HN 


Or  /Id 


GIFT  OF 


GIFT 
M-AR  28  1917 


The  University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


New  Series 


AUGUST 


Vol.  XIII    No.  14 


A  Rural  Survey  of 
Lane  County,  Oregon 


By 

FRED  C.  AYER  and 
HERMAN  N.  MORSE 


Issued  by  the 

Extension  Division  University  of  Oregon 


Published  semi  -  monthly  by  the  UNIVERSITY  OF  OREGON,  and  entered  at  the  postoffice  at 
Eugene,  Oregon,  as  second -class  matter 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword  3 

Part  I.    A  General  View  of  the  Field 4-20 

Chapter  1.    Introducing  Lane  County 4 

Chapter  2.    Varied  Economic  Resources 11 

Chapter  3.    The  Agricultural  Resources  and  Industry 13 

Part  II.    Population  and  Social  Life 20-38 

Chapter  1.    Number,  Distribution  and  Composition  of  Population  20 

Chapter  2.    The  Making  of  a  Community 22 

Chapter  3.    The  Social  Organizations 29 

Chapter  4.    Some  Community  Characteristics 33 

Chapter  5.    Pleasant   Hill 35 

Part  III.    Religious  Life  and  Institutions 38-70 

Chapter  1.    General  Characteristics  of  the  Religious  Situation..  38 

Chapter  2.    The  Number  and  Distribution  of  Churches 43 

Chapter  3.    Material,  Equipment  and  Finance 45 

Chapter  4.    Membership    49 

Chapter  5.    Gain  and  Loss 51 

Chapter  6.    Effects  of  Competition  Upon  Church  Efficiency—.  55 

Chapter  7.    Organization  in  the  Churches 57 

Chapter  8.    The  Church  Program 59 

Chapter  9."  The  Minister 62 

Chapter  10.  General  Conclusions  and  Recommendations ,      67 

Part  IV.    Education 71-109 

Chapter  1.    Foreword  71 

Chapter  2.    Adjustment  to  Geographical  Conditions 

Chapter  3.    Instruction  and  the  Course  of  Study 

Chapter  4.    Buildings,  Grounds,  Equipment  and  Miscellaneous 

Items   86 

Chapter  5.    State,  County  and  District  Functions 93 

Chapter  6.    Centralization  of  Authority 95 

Chapter  7.    County    Organization 99 

Chapter  8.    Finances    104 

Chapter  9.    Final  Recommendations  108 


A  RURAL  SURVEY  OF 
LANE  COUNTY,  OREGON 


BY 


FRED  C.  AYER  and 
HERMAN  N.  MORSE 


Published  by  the 

Extension  Division  University  of  Oregon 


MAP    OF    OREGON — LANE    COUNTY,     THE    SUBJECT    OF    THIS    SURVEY, 
SHOWN   IN    BLACK,    IS   ABOUT   THE    SIZE   OF   CONNECTICUT 


The  Extension  Division  of  the  University  of  Oregon  presents  this, 
the  first  rural  social  survey  to  be  undertaken  of  any  county  in  the  State, 
in  the  hope  that  both  matter  and  method  will  be  of  service  to  students 
of  country  and  small  town  social  conditions  in  Oregon  and  elsewhere, 
and  that  the  facts  herp."cQllectevd/ap<J.1?h3e  Recommendations  herein  made 
may  be  helpful  in  future  programs  of  schttol, ;  church,  grange  and  general 
social  organization/int  Oregon*  cvuntjes;  /.  *  "• 

The  services  of  tne  Extension  Division* are  available  to  the  people  of 
any  Oregon  town  or  rural  neighborhood  who  wish  to  set  themselves  to 
learn  how  better  to  administer  their  social  institutions  in  the  interest  of 
the  whole  community. 


A  RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY,  OREGON 

FOREWORD 

The  survey  of  Lane  County,  Oregon,  is  the  third  survey  made  by  the 
Presbyterian  Country  Church  Work  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  initial 
request  for  it  came  through  the  Home  Mission  Committees  of  the  Synod 
of  Oregon  and  of  the  Presbytery  of  Willamette,  within  whose  bounds 
Lane  County  is  situated.  A  further  and  indirect  request  came  through 
the  Interdenominational  Conference  of  Ministers  held  annually  at  the 
University  of  Oregon,  which  adopted  general  resolutions  looking  toward 
the  securing  of  surveys  within  the  State.  In  response  to  these  requests 
the  County  Church  Work  undertook  to  survey  a  typical  county  in 
Western  Oregon.  No  county  in  Oregon  is  typical  of  the  entire  State, 
the  various  parts  of  the  State  being  so  markedly  different  from  each 
other.  Lane  County  was  selected  because  it  is  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Willamette  and  is  reasonably  typical  of  the  most 
populous  and  developed  sections  of  Western  Oregon. 

The  survey  was  made  in  cooperation  with  the  University  of  Oregon 
and  under  the  local  auspices  of  the  committee  representing  the  Inter- 
denominational Conference.  This  committee  under  date  of  November  9, 
1915,  made  the  following  memorandum,  namely: 

"In  accordance  with  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Interdenominational 
Conference  of  Ministers  in  session  at  Eugene,  Oregon,  July,  1915,  in 
favor  of  securing  'through  the  denominational  societies  such  surveys  as 
may  be  necessary  as  a  basis  for  interdenominational  cooperation,'  the 
Interdenominational  Committee  appointed  by  that  Conference  hereby 
endorses  and  commends  the  survey  of  Lane  County,  Oregon,  now  being 
made  by  the  Country  Church  Work  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home 
Missions  in  cooperation  with  the  University  of  Oregon  and  urges  upon 
all  churches  of  whatever  denominations  which  come  within  the  scope  of 
the  survey  the  desirability  of  cooperating  in  every  way  possible  to 
further  this  work." 

This  was  signed  by  John  H.  Boyd,  chairman,  C.  F.  Swander,  G.  N. 
Edwards,  T.  B.  Ford  and  H.  W.  Davis,  representing  respectively  the 
Presbyterian,  Christian,  Congregational,  Methodist  Episcopal  and  Baptist 
organizations. 

The  University,  in  addition  to  placing  its  varied  facilities  at  the 
service  of  the  investigator,  undertook  in  its  entirety  the  survey  of  the 
educational  conditions  in  the  county.  The  general  field  work  was  begun 
about  October  1,  1915,  and  concluded  about  the  first  of  the  following 
January.  The  study  of  the  school  system  was  conducted  by  Fred  C.  Ayer, 
Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Oregon,  and  continued  throughout 
the  school  year,  1915-16.  The  chapter  on  the  Pleasant  Hill  neighborhood 
was  contributed  by  Earl  Kilpatrick,  Assistant  Dean  of  the  Extension 
Division  of  the  University,  whose  assistance  was  also  of  the  greatest 
value  for  every  branch  of  the  survey.  Certain  material  relative  to  the 
local  government  was  furnished  by  Mr.  Ben  H.  Williams,  Secretary 
Social  Welfare  Department,  Extension  Division,  to  whom  acknowledg- 
ment is  here  made. 


358816 


PART    I 
A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  FIELD 

BY  H.  N.  MORSE 
CHAPTER  1— INTRODUCING  LANE  COUNTY 

The  Willamette  River  rises  in  the  Cascade  and  the  Calapooia  Moun- 
tains and  flows  northward  some  150  miles  through  a  fertile  valley  of 
varying  width  to  a  junction  with  the  Columbia  at  Portland.  This  valley 
which  takes  its  name  from  the  river  by  which  it  is  watered  is  the  great 
agricultural  section  of  northwest  Oregon.  The  mountains  which  border 
it  on  either  side  are  the  great  forest  areas  of  the  State.  Lane  County 
lies  at  the  head  of  this  valley,  stretching  east  and  west  from  the  summit 
of  the  Cascade  Range  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  lowest  passes  on  its 
eastern  border  are  5,000  feet  in  elevation,  while  the  altitudes  of  its  many 
formidable  peaks  range  upward  to  more  than  10,000  feet.  From  these 
great  heights  the  country  slopes  off  gradually  to  the  west  until  the 
comparatively  low  altitudes  of  the  Willamette  Valley  are  reached, 
mounting  again  to  the  summit  of  the  Coast  Range,  where  the  highest 
peaks  are  from  3,000  to  3,500  feet  elevation.  From  here  the  country 
is  very  rough  and  broken,  practically  to  the  shore  line  of  the  ocean. 
The  southern  border  of  the  county  is  formed  by  the  watershed  between 
the  Willamette  and  the  Umpqua  Rivers,  the  Calapooia  Mountains.  This 
range  runs  due  west  from  the  Cascades  but  turns  north  just  short  of 
effecting  a  juncture  with  the  Coast  Range  from  which  it  is  separated 
by  a  comparatively  low  gap.  Its  highest  peaks  are  at  its  eastern  end, 
some  of  them  exceeding  6,000  feet  in  altitude. 

The  open  and  main  settled  section  of  the  county  is,  therefore,  bounded 
by  these  three  mountain  ranges.  A  familiar  and  frequently  used 
anatomical  illustration  gives  the  clearest  notion  of  the  lay  of  the  land 
in  the  Upper  Valley.  The  main  forks  of  the  Willamette  River  come 
together  like  the  fingers  of  a  hand.  Each  finger  represents  an  area 
comparatively  open  and  habitable,  while  the  palm  represents  the  main 
open  area  of  the  central  part  of  the  county.  From  this  flows  the  main 
channel  of  the  Willamette  River.  In  various  other  parts  of  the  county 
are  small  valleys  and  stretches  of  open  country.  These  are  limited  in 
extent  in  the  western  half  of  the  county  where  most  of  the  country  is 
very  rough.  In  the  open  valley  the  altitudes  vary  from  300  to  600  feet, 
the  land  ranging  from  slightly  rolling  to  hilly  with  some  quite  level 
sections. 

The  total  area  of  Lane  County  is  4,612  square  miles,  or  nearly 
3,000,000  acres,  a  little  less  than  two  and  a  half  times  the  total  area  of 
the  state  of  Delaware.  Of  this  area,  1,377,112  acres  are  included  in 
National  Forests  and  a  little  less  than  30,000  acres  are  public  lands  still 
open  to  entry.  These  public  lands  are  rather  inaccessible  and  of  little 
value.  The  National  Forests  contain  some  of  the  finest  timber  in  the 
State.  The  greater  part  of  the  county's  privately-owned  acreage  is 
commercial  timber  land. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  varied  scenery  of  the  county  contains  much  to  delight  every  taste. 
Comparatively  easy  of  access  from  the  settled  valleys  are  snow-capped 
mountains  of  great  height,  vast  forests,  lakes  and  streams  abounding 
in  fish,  and  wilderness  stretches  abounding  in  game,  marshes  frequented 
by  ducks  and  geese,  and  open  places  where  the  pheasant  is  found,  ocean 
beaches  and  places  without  number  where  a  summer  camp  may  be 
pitched.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  these  attractions  bring  to  the  county 
an  army  of  visitors  annually,  a  point  of  no  small  importance,  it  is 
impossible  to  estimate  the  effects  upon  a  population  of  such  ample 
opportunities  for  out-of-door  sport  and  recreation  and  for  enjoyment 
of  so  much  natural  beauty.  While  probably  no  one  has  ever  contended 
that  hunting  and  fishing  are  essential  aids  to  social  progress,  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  for  a  settled  population  to  have  such  ready  access 
to  such  many-sided  diversions  must  in  the  long  run  make  for  a  kind  of 
virility  and  independence. 


TYPICAL  LANE  COUNTY  FARMS 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  standard  climate,  but  every  climate  has 
its  uses — and  its  partisans.  The  mountainous  sections  of  the  county  are 
characterized  by  a  great  range  of  temperature,  by  heavy  snow  falls  and 
heavy  annual  precipitation.  Along  the  coast  the  rainfall  is  very  heavy 
and  the  temperature  comparatively  uniform.  In  the  open  Willamette 
Valley  there  is  a  well-distributed  rainfall  averaging  annually  about 
40  inches.  This  rainfall  is  ample  for  the  kinds  of  farming  here  prac- 
tised, without  irrigation.  It  is  also  ample  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year 
to  turn  many  of  the  roads  into  veritable  quagmires  and  to  flood  certain 
large  and  poorly  drained  sections.  In  the  lower  altitudes  the  extremes 
of  temperature  are  not  great.  Both  the  annual  precipitation  and  the 


6  RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


range  of  temperature  make  this  climate  suitable  for  general  and  truck 
farming,  horticulture,  stock  raising  and  similar  branches  of  agriculture. 
Lane  County  is  the  second  among  the  counties  of  Oregon  in  railroad 
mileage.  This  mileage,  considered  in  connection  with  the  topography  of 
the  country  and  its  present  development  of  resources,  and  supplemented 
by  the  waterways,  is  quite  ample.  The  main  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
traverses  the  county  from  north  to  south.  Two  branches,  the  Woodburn 
and  the  P.  E.  &  E.  also  enter  the  county  from  the  north  on  either  side 
of  the  main  line  with  which  they  connect  at  Springfield  Junction  and 
Eugene,  respectively.  Three  of  the  valleys  east  of  the  main  valley,  the 
Mohawk,  Middle  Fork  and  Row,  are  each  served  by  a  branch  of  this 
system.  The  newly-constructed  Willamette  Pacific  runs  west  from 
Eugene  to  Cushman  on  the  Siuslaw  River,  turning  south  at  that  point 
for  the  Coos  Bay  region.  The  Oregon  Electric  connects  Eugene,  the 
county  seat  and  central  point  in  the  county,  with  Portland. 

The  Willamette  River  is  navigable,  under  favorable  conditions,  from 
Eugene  to  its  mouth.  Florence,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Siuslaw,  is  a  port 
of  call  for  small  ocean-going  vessels,  while  the  Siuslaw  itself  is  navigable 
to  the  head  of  tide  water  and  is  the  main  thoroughfare  for  those  who 
live  along  its  banks.  The  Siuslaw  Port  has  already  been  quite  exten- 
sively developed,  over  $600,000.00  having  been  paid  out  or  contracted 
for  improvements.  Half  of  this  cost  is  being  borne  by  the  United  States 
Government  and  half  by  the  Port  which  includes  territory  adjoining 
the  river  up  to  tide  water.  Serial  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $300,000.00 
have  been  issued  to  date  on  a  property  valuation  of  $4,255,185.00.  This 
improvement  was  first  undertaken  at  a  time  when  the  only  outlet  of 
this  section  of  the  coast  was  by  the  ocean  or  by  a  long  haul  over  a 
very  poor  road  into  the  Willamette  Valley.  Since  the  completion  of  the 
Willamette  Pacific  branch  it  is  no  longer  such  an  important  matter. 
The  only  considerable  settlements  in  the  county  not  now  reached  by 
railroads  are  in  the  McKenzie  Valley  and  on  Lake  Creek. 

The  problem  of  acquiring  an  adequate  system  of  public  roads  is  made 
difficult  by  the  broken  topography  of  much  of  the  county,  by  the  net- 
work of  streams  and  creeks  which  traverse  it  in  every  direction,  and 
by  the  exceedingly  poor  drainage  of  many  low  swamp  areas.  The  solution 
of  the  problem  is  helped,  however,  by  the  abundance,  for  most  of  the 
county,  of  an  excellent  quality  of  road  material,  including  deposits  of 
hard  basalt  and  fine  grain  diabase  in  the  foothills  and  in  a  number 
of  buttes  on  the  valley  floor,  trap  rock  well  distributed  in  the  southern 
end  of  the  county,  and  in  the  river  beds  an  almost  inexhaustible  supply 
of  the  best  quality  gravel  which  tests  over  90  per  cent  trap  rock.  Clays 
predominate  in  Lane  County  soils  and  in  some  sections  sand  is  available 
in  sufficient  quantities  to  make  an  excellent  quality  of  sand-clay  road. 

The  direction  of  the  road  work  in  Oregon  is  from  three  sources. 
There  is  a  State  Highway  Commission  and  a  State  Highway  Engineer, 
under  whose  direction  certain  main  highways  of  the  State  are  improved. 
They  have  had  comparatively  little  to  do  with  Lane  County  roads.  The 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


work  of  the  county  is  under  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  county 
court.  The  county  is  divided  into  road  districts  in  each  of  which  a  road 
supervisor  is  appointed  having  care  of  the  roads  of  that  district  under 
the  oversight  of  the  county  court.  There  are  86  such  districts  in  Lane 
County  varying  in  size  according  to  the  settlement  and  topography.  The 
funds  for  road  work  are  chiefly  raised  by  a  tax  levied  by  the  county  court 
as  a  part  of  the  general  fund  of  the  county.  Seventy  per  cent  of  the  money 
raised  in  any  one  district  by  this  tax  must  be  expended  in  that  district. 
In  addition,  any  road  district  may,  by  authorization  of  its  voters,  raise 
further  funds  by  a  special  district  tax. 

Interest  in  better  roads  is  by  no  means  uniform  throughout  the  county, 
at  least  as  expressed  in  a  willingness  to  appropriate  funds  for  road 
improvement.  A  number  of  districts  do  each  year  vote  special  taxes. 
In  some  instances  funds  have  been  privately  subscribed.  In  some  of  the 
more  isolated  and  less  prosperous  districts,  the  road  funds  have  been 
about  the  only  money  in  circulation  and  the  manner  of  their  use  has 
left  something  to  be  desired.  The  work  on  the  principal  roads  under 
the  direction  of  the  county  court  has,  in  the  main,  been  well  done  at  a 
reasonable  cost.  The  whole  question  of  road  economics  here  presents 
many  urgent  problems:  (a)  The  character  of  the  improvement  desired 
for  each  particular  road  with  reference  to  the  volume  of  traffic.  No 
adequate  traffic  surveys  have  been  made  but  such  surveys  should  precede 
every  considerable  piece  of  road  improvement.  (b)  The  selection  of 
roads  to  be  improved  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  economic  development 
of  the  county.  The  most  important  road  is  the  one  designated  as  the 
Pacific  Highway.  This  is  a  through  highway  from  Portland  to  San 
Francisco.  It  traverses  the  county  from  north  to  south  for  a  distance 
of  more  than  forty-five  miles.  It  is  also  the  main  traveled  road  locally, 
serving  the  most  densely  settled  portions  of  the  county  and  connecting 
its  principal  towns.  This  is  the  one  road  of  outstanding  importance  to 
the  whole  county.  There  are  many  other  roads  which  are  vital  to  the 
development  of  particular  localities.  It  would  seem  wise  at  this  time 
to  prepare  a  program  of  improvement  for  a  period  of  years  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  present  development  and  future  possibilities  of  the 
county.  There  are  some  sections  of  considerable  present  or  potential 
importance  which  at  certain  seasons  are  isolated  as  far  as  wagon  roads 
are  concerned.  Changes  in  the  economic  characteristics  of  some  sections 
furnish  an  important  angle  of  this  problem  as,  for  example,  in  com- 
munities which  are  changing  from  general  farming  to  fruit  raising  or 
from  lumbering  to  farming.  Railroad  extension  and  the  growth  of 
certain  new  communities  will  inevitably  cause  a  certain  amount  of 
recentering.  Such  questions  will  be  best  handled  if  they  are  contem- 
plated in  a  well  thought  out  program,  (c)  The  problem  of  financing 
road  improvement.  The  funds  available  each  year  through  the  regular 
channels  of  taxation  are  undoubtedly  insufficient  to  maintain  the  exist- 
ing road  system  and  at  the  same  time  to  allow  the  permanent  improve- 
ments to  keep  pace  with  the  growing  need.  The  development  of  many 


8  RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

parts  of  the  county  is  retarded  by  roads  which,  for  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  year,  are  inexpressibly  bad.  It  is  hard  to  describe  them  within 
the  limitations  of  proper  speech.  It  should  be  recalled  that  the  character 
of  the  country  makes  a  very  heavy  drain  upon  the  road  funds  for 
bridges,  culverts,  grading,  filling  and  similar  needs  and  that  building 
must  necessarily  be  of  an  expensive  sort,  (d)  The  problem  of  road 
maintenance.  The  task  of  adequately  maintaining  the  existing  roads  is 
very  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  supervisors  who  are  often  a  precarious 
hope.  The  Pomona  Grange  has  been  very  active  of  late  in  the  advocacy 
of  the  patrol  system  of  road  maintenance.  We  do  not  wish  to  be 
doctrinaire  in  the  support  of  this  reform.  The  maintenance  of  some 
stretches  of  road  has  without  doubt  been  adequately  cared  for  but  no 
one  can  travel  the  roads  of  the  county  constantly  for  three  months  and 
remain  oblivious  to  the  great  loss  involved  in  the  very  inadequate  main- 
tenance of  many  roads.  Along  with  a  more  thorough-going  system  of 
inspection  and  repair  there  should  be  a  much  larger  use  made  of  such 
inexpensive  means  of  improvement  and  maintenance  as  the  spilt  log  drag 
and  similar  devices  which  would  make  many  roads  much  more  usable, 
save  a  good  deal  of  money,  and,  without  doubt,  improve  tempers,  (e)  The 
problem  of  drainage.  This  is  not  altogether  or  chiefly  a  road  problem, 
but  many  sections  of  the  county  must  remain  without  all-year  roads 
until  substantial  progress  shall  have  been  made  in  the  matter  of  caring 
for  the  surplus  water  with  which  they  are  annually  blessed. 

The  statement  of  the  mileage  of  roads  as  of  December  1,  1915,  is 
as  follows : 

Kind  of  Road —  Number  of  Miles 

Macadam    

Crushed  rock  or  broken  stone  108.50 

Gravel     399.40 

Corduroy    or   plank    27.50 

Earth   roads   not    graded    .. 

1,560.12 

It  will  be  noted  that  about  one-third  of  the  roads  are  classed  as 
improved. 

The  total  amount  expended  for  roads  and  bridges  for  the  twelve 
years  up  to  and  including  1914  was  $1,352,754.49.  The  annual  expendi- 
ture has  been  increasing  in  recent  years.  Prior  to  1908  it  was  greatest 
in  1904,  $57,738.25.  The  largest  amount  for  the  whole  period  was  for 
1913,  $257,468.00.  The  record  is  not  at  hand  for  the  entire  year  1915, 
but  up  to  December  1  the  total  expenditure  was  $142,719.82,  divided 
as  follows : 

Bridge  Account — 

Construction  of  two  new  bridges $   10,992.74 

Maintenance  of  existing  bridges 13,103.39 

$   24,096.13 

Road  Account — 

Maintenance    $   37,863.00 

Construction    and    permanent    improvements 80,760.69 

. 118,623.69 


Total    ..  $142,719.82 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  expenditures  for  new  work  and  for  resurfacing  may  be  itemized: 


New  Roads  Built — 

Kind  of  Roads 

Macadam 

Crushed  rock  or  broken  stone  .... 

Gravel 

Earth    roads   graded   


Total     

Roads  Resurfaced — 


Rock   and 

Gravel   

Earth   repaired 
Corduroy     


Kind  of  Roads 
macadam   .. 


Miles 

1.79 

26.24 

18.63 

15.86 

62.52 

Miles 
36.40 
82.50 
33.00 
11.00 


Cost 

$      4,117.00 

31,696.97 

11,614.32 

5,330.76 

$   52,759.05 

Cost 

$      9,681.85 

5,891.06 

721.00 

300.00 


Total     162.90  $    16,593.91 

The  bridge  account  is  chargeable  against  the  general  fund.  The  sources 
of  the  road  account  were  as  follows : 

General    fund    .  ..   $   41,383.24 

District  fund   48,735.32 

Special   district  funds   . 17,514.38 

Supervisor's    fund    10,990.75 


Total     $118,623.69 

The  county  court's  estimates  for  1916  called  for  $25,000.00  for  the 
bridge  account  and  $110,620.00  for  the  road  account. 

No  one  seems  to  know  just 
how  many  bridges  there  are 
in  the  county.  There  are 
no  complete  records  at  the 
county  court  house  on  that 
point.  The  reports  of  the 
most  recent  bridge  surveys 
record  the  inspection  of  some 
twenty-five  large  wooden 
bridges,  mostly  of  the  covered 
type,  and  of  a  number  of 
concrete  and  steel  bridges. 
The  total  number  of  all 
bridges  and  culverts  of  what- 
ever size  would  be  several 
times  that  figure  at  the  very 
least.  The  county  is  now 
building  covered  wood  bridges 
wherever  possible.  These 
covered  bridges  wear  well, 
although  the  most  commend- 
able feature  about  this  plan 
appears  to  be  that  it  utilizes 
local  materials  almost  en- 
tirely. 

There  has  never  been  an 
TYPICAL  COVERED  BRIDGE,  USING        adequate  system  of  marking 
LOCAL  MATERIALS  the    public    roads    and    the 


10          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

traveler's  dependence  has  been  largely  upon  various  advertising 
signs,  many  of  which  are  inaccurate  and  misleading.  One  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  any  more  desirable  system  has  been  the  propensity  of 
hunters  to  practice  their  marksmanship  on  the  road  signs,  The  county 
court  announced  its  plan  last  fall  to  install  fifty  iron  signs  at  the  more 
important  road  crossings.  No  effort  seemingly  has  been  made  to  keep 
the  road  sides  free  from  advertising  signs,  which  in  many  places  make 
the  landscape  hideous.  The  practice  of  allowing  every  attractive  road 
side  setting  to  bear  the  handicap  of  miscellaneous  bill  boards  and  posters 
is  certainly  not  commendable. 

The  total  valuation  of  all  taxable  property  in  the  county  for  1914 
was  $36,520,454.79.  Of  this  amount  $4,098,079.79  was  given  as  the 
valuation  of  the  holdings  of  all  the  public  service  corporations  in  the 
county  which  are  assessed  by  the  State  Tax  Commission  at  $32,431,357.00 
as  the  valuation  of  all  other  taxable  property.  The  general  tax  rate 
was  .0173.  The  rate  of  the  different  special  tax  levies  varied  according 
to  locality  and  purpose.  The  total  amount  of  general  and  special  taxes 
raised  for  all  purposes  was  $1,097,451.36.  The  figures  of  the  public 
service  corporations  are  not  available  for  1915.  The  valuation  of  all 
other  taxable  property  listed  on  the  assessor's  rolls  for  that  year, 
$36,353,640.00,  is  an  increase  of  $2,922,265.00  over  the  preceding  year. 
Of  this  total  valuation  $11,074,720.00  is  the  assessed  value  of  the 
incorporated  cities.  The  proposed  1916  budget  submitted  by  the  county 
court  called  for  an  estimated  tax  levy  of  .016  for  all  purposes  to  raise 
$624,000.00.  This,  of  coarse,  is  exclusive  of  all  special  road  or  school 
district  levies,  the  amount  of  which  cannot  be  estimated  here. 

No  complete  discussion  of  civil  government  is  necessary  or  desirable 
but  certain  features  deserve  mention.  In  general  a  county  plan  of 
government  is  followed  and  exclusive  of  municipalities,  the  administra- 
tion of  local  affairs  is  in  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  county  or  of 
the  various  districts  in  which  it  is  subdivided.  The  unit  in  school 
administration,  supervision  and  finance,  will  be  discussed  in  the  section 
on  education.  The  unit  for  road  supervision  and  finance  is  indicated 
above.  There  are  certain  other  county  concerns  which  have  a  special 
social  significance: 

(a)  The  payment  of  mothers'  pensions.     The  Oregon  law  grants  to 
every  mother  of  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  whose  husband  is 
dead   or   an    inmate   of    some    State    institution,    and   who    is    dependent 
entirely  or  partly  upon  her  own  labor  for  support,  a  monthly  pension  of 
$10.00  per  month  for  one  child  and  $7.50  for  each  additional  child.     This 
act  is  administered  by  the  county  court  which  passes  upon  applications 
for  pensions.     During  the  month  of  April,  1916,  pensions  were  granted 
to  forty-eight  mothers.     The  pensions  average  $14.18. 

(b)  The  care  of  the  poor.    Every  person  unable  to  earn  a  living,  and 
who  has  no  relative  in  the  State  liable  for  his  support,  is  maintained 
by   the    county.      This    is    done    in    two    ways.      The    county   provides    a 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          11 


poor  farm  where  paupers  are  supported;  and  poor  relief  is  distributed 
among1  needy  persons  after  investigation  by  and  upon  order  of  the 
county  court.  On  April  1,  1916,  there  were  twenty-three  inmates  residing 
at  the  Lane  County  poor  farm.  The  total  cost  to  Lane  County  for  the 
care  of  the  poor  during  the  year  1915  was  $12,373.52. 

(c)  The  encouragement  of  fairs.  Fairs  are  held  in  Lane  County  by 
voluntary  organizations  which  receive  financial  assistance  from  the 
county.  There  are  three  annual  fairs  in  the  county  which  receive  this 
assistance.  They  are  the  Lane  County  Fair,  the  Junction  City  Pumpkin 
Show  and  the  Cottage  Grove  Grange  Fair. 

CHAPTER   2— VARIED   ECONOMIC   RESOURCES 

Timber  is  the  most  important  of  all  the  county's  resources.  Indeed, 
most  of  the  county  is  still  one  vast  forest.  In  the  national  forests,  out 
of  a  total  net  area  of  1,368,827  acres,  it  is  estimated  that  897,914  acres 
are  in  commercial  timber  of  the  first  quality.  This  acreage  contains 
30,114,795,000  B.  M.  feet.  The  total  acreage  of  the  deeded  land  in  the 
county  is  1,521,312.  Of  this  area,  792,595  acres  are  in  commercial 
timber  with  32,600,000,000  B.  M.  feet.  This  makes  the  total  area  of 
standing  commercial  timber  1,690,509  acres  or  57  per  cent  of  the  total 
area  of  the  county,  with  62,714,795,000  B.  M.  feet.  Lane  County  is  thus 
the  first  county  in  the  State  in  timber  resources.  Fir  is  the  predominat- 
ing variety,  although  sugar  pine,  spruce,  cedar  and  hemlock  are  all 
found  in  abundance,  and  other  species  in  the  lower  altitudes.  There  are 
over  fifty  mills  of  considerable  capacity  scattered  throughout  the  county. 
The  lumber  business  has  been  at  very  low  ebb  for  a  number  of  years 
and  many  mills  have  been  closed.  Some  of  them  will  doubtless  not  open 
again,  but  general  conditions  in  the  lumber  industry  are  constantly 
improving  at  the  present  time.  The  economic  depression  of  the  last 
few  years  has  been  great  and  wide-spread  and  has  brought  much 
hardship  especially  to  the  communities  which  depend  largely  upon  their 
mills  for  support.  In  a  year  of  normal  output  the  value  of  the  lumber 
products  of  the  county  is  greater  than  the  combined  value  of  all  other 
products. 

The  agricultural  interests  are  next  in  importance,  but  these  will  be 
made  the  subject  of  a  special  chapter.  There  is  some  mining,  although 
the  county's  resources  in  mines  are  not  of  great  or  general  import. 
The  two  principal  districts  for  gold  and  silver  mining  are  the  Bohemia 
in  the  Calapooia  Mountains,  southeast  of  Cottage  Grove,  and  the  Blue 
River  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Cascade  Range,  near  the  McKenzie 
fork,  about  forty-five  miles  northeast  of  Eugene.  The  Bohemia  is  the 
older  district  of  the  two,  gold  being  first  discovered  here  in  1858  and 
the  first  mill  being  built  in  1875.  Very  little  was  done,  however,  before 
1891.  General  run  of  ore  is  said  to  be  of  low  grade.  Total  output 
up  to  the  present  time  is  probably  about  $400,000.00.  The  first  mill 
in  the  Blue  River  district  was  built*in  1900.  There  are  four  productive 


12 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


LANE    COUNTY   HAS   MORE   THAN    A   MILLION   AND   A   HALF   ACRES   OF 
STANDING  COMMERCIAL  TIMBER 

mines,  all  deep,  in  the  county  now,  and  in  1913  the  total  output  for  all 
minerals  was  $11,975.00.  Gold  has  also  been  located  in  the  Fall  Creek 
district  but  has  not  been  developed. 

There  are  deposits  of  building  stone  of  high  quality  in  various  sections 
of  the  county  and  a  number  of  quarries  have  had  quite  an  extensive 
production.  There  is  also  stone  useful  for  foundations,  filling,  etc.,  in 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY  13 


considerable  quantities.  Among  other  mineral  products  reported  may  be 
mentioned  coal,  asbestos  and  a  ferruginous  material  suitable  for  the 
preparation  of  iron  paint.  All  of  these  are  of  comparatively  little 
commercial  importance. 

Fishing  is  an  important  industry  on  the  Siuslaw,  where  there  are 
several  canneries,  but  it  does  not  bulk  large  in  the  total  of  the  county's 
output.  There  is  some  little  general  manufacturing,  but  this  too  is  as 
yet  comparatively  insignificant.  A  resource  of  great  potential  value  to 
the  county  is  in  its  water  power.  There  is  available  approximately 
215,560  horsepower,  though  less  than  3,500  is  developed  now.  There 
are  twelve  banks  in  the  county;  their  statements  as  of  March  1,  1915, 
show  an  aggregate  capital  of  $535,000.00,  with  deposits  totaling 
$3,795,000.00  and  resources  totaling  $4,816,000.00. 

CHAPTER  3— THE  AGRICULTURAL  RESOURCES  AND  INDUSTRY 

The  relative  importance  of  agriculture  in  the  general  economy  of  the 
county  is  greater  than  might  be  inferred  from  the  proportion  of  the 
land  area  which  is  used  for  agricultural  pursuits.  As  stated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  the  lumber  industry,  judged  both  from  the  acreage 
in  standing  timber  and  from  the  value  of  the  timber  holdings  and  of 
the  annual  output  of  timber  products,  is  far  and  away  the  most 
important  industry  of  the  county.  Only  16.4  per  cent  of  the  total  land 
area  is  included  in  the  farms  and  more  than  two-thirds  of  this  is  land 
which  is  either  until lable  or  untilled,  so  that  the  acreage  of  improved 
farm  land  is  only  5.4  per  cent  of  the  county's  total.  Of  course  a  very 
much  larger  proportion  of  land  may  be  classed  as  tillable  after  the 
timber  is  removed  and  the  land  cleared,  but  high  class  agricultural  land 
will  always  be  a  relatively  small  proportion  of  the  total  area.  The 
topography  of  the  county  assures  that.  But  from  the  social  point  of 
view,  which  is  the  dominant  point  of  view  in  this  report,  agriculture 
is  of  much  greater  relative  importance  to  the  county  than  this  would 
indicate.  The  timber  holdings  are,  naturally  enough,  in  comparatively 
few  hands  and  give  employment  to  a  small  number  of  people  considering 
the  total  acreage  and  valuation  involved.  Because  the  unit  holding  for 
agricultural  purposes  is  very  much  smaller  and  because  acre  for  acre 
the  agricultural  holdings  give  employment  to  so  many  more  men  than 
the  timber  holdings  of  the  county,  agriculture  looms  up  as  the  county's 
most  important  industry,  socially  considered.  Excluding  the  city  of 
Eugene,  practically  45  per  cent  of  all  the  adult  male  workers  in  the 
county  are  actively  engaged  in  agriculture,  while  of  the  total  population 
practically  64  per  cent  are  directly  dependent  upon  agriculture  for  their 
livelihood,  still  others  being  indirectly  dependent  upon  it.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  these  percentages  will  increase  somewhat  in  the  future. 

In  1910  there  were,  all  told,  2,826  farms  being  operated  in  the  county. 
For  the  last  45  years  there  has  been  a  very  uniform  increase  in  the 
number  of  farms  of  about  500  farms  each  decade,  which  if  continued 
since  1910  would  make  the  present  number  about  3,100.  The  total 


14          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

acreage  in  farms  in  1910  was  485,265,  159,127  acres  being  classified  as 
improved  farm  land.  The  per  cent  of  the  total  acreage  of  the  county 
included  in  farms  increased  from  about  10  per  cent  in  1870  to  16.4  per 
cent  in  1910.  There  has  been  in  the  past  a  certain  amount  of  govern- 
ment land  open  to  entry  which  was  suitable  for  agricultural  purposes, 
the  taking  up  of  which  has  increased  the  farm  acreage.  There  is  still 
a  considerable  amount  of  such  land  available,  but  it  is  of  very  slight 
value.  The  increase  in  the  cultivated  area  in  the  future  will  doubtless 
come  from  two  sources.  There  are  very  large  stretches  of  territory 
now  unproductive  which,  if  properly  drained,  will  become  agri- 
cultural lands  of  great  value,  and  which  undoubtedly  will  be  for 
the  most  part  so  utilized  before  many  decades.  Also  certain  of  the 
most  accessible  sections  of  the  county,  as  some  river  valleys,  have  been, 
or  are  being,  lumbered  off.  Many  such  sections  have  considerable  agri- 
cultural value  when  the  timber  is  removed,  and  can  be  quite  extensively 
developed.  This  is  going  on  at  the  present  time  in  certain  parts  of 
the  McKenzie,  Row  and  Mohawk  Valleys.  There  are  other  sections 
where  the  agricultural  development  will  be  considerable.  This  does  not 
mean  that  as  far  as  area  and  output  are  concerned  agriculture  will  very 
soon  challenge  lumber's  supremacy  in  the  county,  but  it  does  mean 
that  more  and  more  agriculture  will  become  the  main  economic  reliance 
in  most  of  the  settled  sections  of  the  county,  and  for  an  increasing 
proportion  of  its  inhabitants.  It  is  probable  that  the  total  number  of 
farms  will  increase  much  more  steadily  and  rapidly  than  either  the  total 
or  the  improved  acreage,  because  the  type  of  farming  practised  in 
the  county  is  changing  and  in  consequence  a  smaller  acreage  per  farm 
is  being  utilized,  which  is  a  point  to  which  we  will  have  occasion  to 
refer  later. 

The  total  value  of  the  farm  property  in  1910  was  about  $24,000,000.00, 
and  the  figure  has  probably  not  increased  materially  since  that  time. 
The  increase  in  value  from  1870  to  1880  and  from  1880  to  1890  was 
in  each  case  about  $2,200,000.00.  There  was  a  very  slight  increase  in 
value  from  1890  to  1900.  It  was  during  the  following  decade  that  the 
greatest  inflation  in  value  occurred  and  this  was  the  period  of  the  most 
widespread  speculation  in  farm  lands.  The  total  value  of  all  farm 
property  jumped  from  less  than  eight  and  a  half  millions  to  twenty-four 
millions,  an  increase  of  182.6  per  cent.  The  movement  of  farm  lands 
has  not  been  quite  so  active  since  1910.  This  speculation  and  the  con- 
sequent inflation  of  values  has  had  a  number  of  unfortunate  results, 
the  chief  of  which,  perhaps,  is  that  it  has  put  upon  farm  lands  in  Lane 
County  a  market  value  which  is  way  above  their  investment  value,  a 
condition  which  can  never  have  salutary  effects,  either  financially  or 
socially.  There  have  been  two  sides  to  this  process.  A  considerable 
amount  of  land  previously  used  for  general  farming  or  for  grain  farming 
has  been  diverted  from  such  uses  and  subdivided  for  fruit  raising  or 
other  special  purposes,  of  course  to  be  sold  in  small  parcels  and  at  a 
much  higher  per  acre  rate.  Some  of  the  land  so  handled  was  well 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          15 

adapted  to  the  kind  of  farming  for  which  it  was  sold  and  some  of  it 
was  not  at  all  adapted  and  almost  all  of  it  was  held  at  much  too  high 
a  figure,  considering  the  present  state  of  the  fruit  business  in  the 
northwest.  While  this  has  been  going  on,  general  farming  lands,  for 
a  large  variety  of  reasons  which  we  need  not  discuss  here,  have  been 
steadily  increasing  in  price,  perhaps  not  above  their  potential  productive 
value,  but  certainly  above  their  immediate  value,  present  market  condi- 
tions and  present  farming  methods  considered.  We  suppose  that  the 
credulous  easterner,  with  his  naive  faith  in  the  possibilities  of  western 
agriculture,  is  the  one  institution  that  has  made  this  process  possible. 

The  total  valuation  of  $24,000,000.00  is  itemized  as  follows:  Land 
represents  79.7  per  cent  of  the  total;  farm  buildings  represent  9.7  per 
cent;  implements  and  machinery  2.5  per  cent,  and  domestic  animals 
8  per  cent.  These  percentages  differ  from  the  percentages  for  the 
State  as  a  whole,  in  the  fact  that  the  per  cent  invested  in  livestock  is 
much  less  in  Lane  County,  since  it  has  not  the  extensive  development  of 
the  cattle  industry  that  characterizes  many  counties  of  Eastern  Oregon. 
The  average  value  of  all  property  per  farm  was  given  by  the  census 
as  $8,474.00,  of  which  amount  the  land  and  buildings  represent  $7,580.00. 
These  values  were  based  on  an  average  per  acre  valuation  for  the  whole 
county  of  $39.34.  Probably  all  the  land  roughly  termed  agricultural 
land  does  not  have  a  higher  acreage  market  value  than  that,  but  such 
a  figure  is  of  very  little  importance  where  the  variations  are  so  great. 
There  is  some  farming  land  sold  for  as  high  as  $500.00  or  $600.00  an 
acre.  A  good  deal  of  favorably  located  land  would  bring  anywhere  from 
$100.00  an  acre  up.  The  more  inaccessible,  or  rough  range  land  and 
similar  tracts,  of  course,  bring  much  less. 

The  kind  of  farming  practised  varies  somewhat  in  the  different  parts 
of  the  county,  chiefly  according  to  topography.  In  the  rougher  sections 
goats,  sheep  and  beef  cattle  are  found  in  great  numbers.  Most  of  the 
fertile  and  open  valley  lands  are  devoted  to  general  farming,  dairy  or 
grain.  In  a  smaller  area  are  orchards  and  small  fruits,  with  some 
intensive  truck  farming  and  a  few  hop  yards.  Cereals  still  lead  in 
point  of  acreage,  with  the  forage  crops  second,  though  there  have  been 
certain  important  changes  in  the  last  few  decades.  The  acreage  of 
corn  and  oats  has  increased  steadily,  while  the  acreage  of  wheat  has 
decreased.  The  acreage  of  corn  has  not  yet  reached  any  very  imposing 
total,  largely  because  of  the  tradition  which  dies  very  hard,  that  Oregon 
cannot  raise  corn.  As  a  matter  of  fact  most  sections  of  the  county  can 
raise  very  good  corn  and  as  it  becomes  more  generally  known  that  corn 
gives  a  better  grain  rotation  than  either  wheat  or  oats  its  total  acreage 
will  doubtless  increase  much  more  rapidly.  Although  the  county  has 
been  in  the  past  a  grain  county  and  although  some  people  have  observed 
it  in  their  mind's  eye  as  a  great  fruit  county,  its  claim  to  agricultural 
fame  will  almost  certainly  be  as  a  dairy  county.  The  number  of  dairy 
cows  has  been  increasing  gradually.  There  are  now  about  12,000  in 
the  county.  The  number  of  hogs  has  been  decreasing  somewhat  strangely 


16 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


and  there  are  now  between  12,000  and  15,000.  Sheep  have  decreased  from 
over  50,000  in  1870  to  30..000  in  1910,  but  goats  have  increased  until 
Lane  County  leads  the  State.  Apples  lead  in  orchard  fruits,  with  plums 
and  prunes,  cherries,  pears  and  peaches  following  in  the  order  named. 
Part  of  this  acreage  was  but  recently  planted.  The  acreage  of  small  fruits 
is  increasing.  The  change  in  the  type  of  farming  is  reflected  in  the 
change  as  to  the  size  of  farms,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  table : 
75 


LESS  THAN  10 


500  OR,  WORE. 


SIZE  OF  FARMS  IN  AC&ES, 


PER  CENT   OP  TOTAL  NUMBER   OF  FARMS   IN   EACH   SIZE   GROUP   FOR 
EACH  DECADE,   1870-1910 


Size 

1870 
Per  Cent 

1880 
Per  Cent 

1890 
Per  Cent 

1900 
Per  Cent 

1910 
Per  Cent 

Under  10  acres   
10-   19 

3.1 

3  7 

1.5 
1  0 

1.2 

1  7 

2.3 
3  0 

5.5 
6.4 

20-   49 

11  5 

4  0 

6  1 

10  7 

15.0 

50-   99    .... 

14.2 

9  4 

11  6 

14.8 

17.6 

101-499    
500    and   over    

Aver,   size  in  acres.... 

55.9 
11.6 

382 

69.9 
14.2 
302 

67.8 
11.6 
257 

61.2 
8.0 
212.4 

49.6 
5.9 
171.7 

RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          17 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  farms 
included  in  the  smaller  size  groups;  that  is,  the  farms  of  100  acres  or 
less,  is  increasing,  while  the  percentage  in  the  larger  size  groups  is 
decreasing.  The  change  from  cattle  ranging  and  extensive  grain  farm- 
ing and  the  increase  in  dairy  farming  accounts  for  the  growing  number 
of  farms  in  the  middle  size  groups,  while  the  increase  in  fruit  growing, 
both  orchard  and  small  fruits,  and  in  truck  raising,  accounts  for  the 
increase  in  the  small  size  groups.  Not  only  the  per  cent  of  the  total, 
but  the  actual  number  of  farms  over  100  acres  has  decreased.  Very 
few  new  farms  have  been  created  in  those  groups  and  many  old  ones 
have  been  subdivided.  This  same  condition  is  shown  in  the  decrease 
in  the  average  acreage  per  farm.  In  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  forecast 
the  character  of  the  future  development  we  would  expect  the  number  of 
very  large  farms  to  decrease  still  further,  while  the  greatest  increase 
will  doubtless  be  in  the  number  of  farms  of  moderate  size,  say  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres. 

Tenantry  is  not  a  very  important  problem  here,  except  in  certain 
sections.  The  operating  owners  are  83.2  per  cent  of  the  total  number 
of  farmers,  and  represent  74  per  cent  of  the  total  improved  acreage  and 
67  per  cent  of  the  investment.  The  tenants  are  chiefly  confined  to 
range  lands  and  to  the  grain  farms.  Their  per  cent  in  the  total  is 
slightly  decreasing.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  farmers,  84.1 
per  cent,  are  of  native-born  white  stock.  Most  of  the  foreign-born  are 
land  owners  and  are  chiefly  Germans  and  Scandinavians. 

This  report  cannot  enter  into  any  detailed  discussion  of  farm  tillage, 
management  or  business.  There  are  a  number  of  agricultural  problems 
of  outstanding  importance  which  we  may  briefly  mention  here.  The 
first  of  these  concerns  the  soils  and  their  handling.  The  primary  source 
of  agricultural  wealth  is,  of  course,  the  soil,  and  a  careless  or  unwise 
handling  of  it  is  bound  to  be  costly.  In  Willamette  Valley  soils  the 
clay  loams  predominate.  There  are  several  classes  of  these  soils  of 
different  degrees  of  productivity,  varying  from  the  so-called  "white 
lands,"  to  the  much  prized  dark  loams.  They  do  not,  however,  differ 
very  much  in  chemical  nature,  but  represent  rather  different  stages  of 
drainage  capacity.  The  bottom  lands  are  all  of  an  alluvial  nature  and 
are  very  fertile.  The  foothill  soils  are  of  basaltic  origin  underlain  more 
or  less  with  sandstone  and  with  some  stretches  of  sandy  loam.  In  general 
the  soils  are  rich  in  phosphoric  acid  and  in  humus,  and  are 
tolerably  well  supplied  with  lime,  but  are  deficient  in  potash.  The 
soils  have  been  very  poorly  treated.  The  continued  one-cropping  of 
many  sections  and  generally  unwise  methods  of  tillage  have  depleted 
them  of  both  plant-food  elements  and  humus.  The  chief  reason,  however, 
for  the  very  considerable  soil  depletion  is  the  excess  of  moisture  remain- 
ing in  the  soil  through  too  long  a  portion  of  the  year.  In  many  sections 
drainage  is  the  vital  problem.  Where  it  involves  the  annual  overflow  of 
a  river,  as  in  the  Long  Tom  bottom  lands,  it  is  more  than  an  individual 
matter,  and  calls  for  the  concerted  action  of  all  property  owners.  There 


18          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

are  many  thousand  acres  whose  productivity  would  be  increased  by 
proper  drainage  and  thousands  of  acres  more  which  will  become  pro- 
ductive for  the  first  time  when  drained. 

The  general  type  of  farming  practised  and  the  methods  employed 
raise  many  urgent  problems.  It  was  suggested  earlier  in  the  chapter 
that  certain  changes  in  the  type  of  farming  were  taking  place  and 
that  certain  further  changes  were  highly  desirable.  On  every  hand 
there  is  ample  proof  that  the  county  in  general  is  not  well  farmed.  Of 
the  type  of  farming  one  may  say  that  there  is  too  much  small  grain 
raised,  not  enough  clover,  not  enough  corn,  not  enough  cows,  and  not 
enough  hogs.  Aside  from  these  defects  in  the  kind  of  business  it  is 
clear  that  the  methods  of  tillage  are  monotonous  and  often  very  unwise; 
that  the  dairy  stock  on  the  average  is  of  very  low  grade  and  that  the 
general  methods  of  handling  stock  are  rather  poor.  The  most  persistent 
efforts  being  put  forth  in  the  direction  of  improved  farming  call  for 
more  and  better  cows  and  hogs,  more  corn  and  more  clover,  a  better 
system  of  crop  rotation  and  better  methods  of  tillage. 

The  credit  problem  seems  no  more  urgent  here  than  elsewhere  in 
the  west.  A  great  deal  of  the  development  in  agriculture  as  in  other 
industries  has  been  effected  with  borrowed  capital,  which  is  not  neces- 
sarily a  bad  thing,  and  much  of  this  capital  has  been  imported.  It  is 
often  possible  to  secure  money  for  legitimate  development  on  good 
security  at  reasonable  rates.  The  main  credit  difficulties,  as  far  as 
agriculture  is  concerned,  have  arisen  from  three  conditions,  the  general 
business  depression  which  has  made  money  tight  until  very  recently,  the 
very  small  and  uncertain  margin  of  profit  in  farming,  together  with  the 
very  poor  returns  on  the  farm  investments,  and  the  serious  inflation 
of  farm  values  due  to  land  speculation  and  to  the  lack  of  a  proper 
classification  of  the  types  of  farm  land.  The  last  is  doubtless  the  most 
serious  difficulty  and  it  is  improbable  that  credit  conditions  will  become 
much  better,  whatever  remedial  legislation  is  secured,  unless  this  primary 
problem  of  land  values  and  land  classifications  is  solved.  The  market 
problem  is  also  of  peculiar  urgency.  The  markets  for  dairy  products  are 
Portland,  Independence,  Corvallis  and  the  various  local  creameries;  for 
livestock,  Portland  and  Eugene;  for  fruits,  either  the  local  canneries, 
or  in  the  case  of  apples  and  prunes,  Portland  and  the  East;  for  eggs, 
Portland,  Seattle  and  local  markets.  The  grain  is  mostly  fed.  Through- 
out the  county  one  hears  it  said  very  frequently  that  it  is  impossible 
to  be  assured  of  an  adequate  market  for  all  farm  products  at  a  price 
which  will  guarantee  a  profit  in  the  production.  This  condition,  which 
is  doubtless  true  enough,  is  in  part  a  result  of  the  kind  of  products 
which  the  county  has  had  to  market,  in  part  a  result  of  the  quality  of 
those  products  and  in  large  part  a  result  of  the  methods  used  in  the 
marketing. 

The  one  organization  which  is  active  to  better  conditions  in  these 
respects  is  the  grange.  We  will  discuss  in  another  chapter  the  general 
organization  and  strength  of  the  grange  in  the  county.  We  will  here 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          19 

mention  only  certain  of  its  activities  which  are  of  direct  economic 
importance.  An  agricultural  committee  representing  each  local  grange 
and  the  executive  committee  of  the  Pomona  Grange  was  organized  to 
meet  every  month  and  devise  uniform  plans  along  the  lines  of  the 
various  problems  which  were  considered  urgent.  This  committee,  work- 
ing with  the  County  Agriculturist,  has  already  very  materially  helped 
the  market  situation.  It  established  and  is  operating  successfully  a 
public  street  market  in  Eugene.  This  market  has  disposed  of  an 
astonishing  quantity  of  meats  and  general  farm  products,  at  prices  better 
than  the  wholesale  rate  usually  secured  by  the  producers,  but  sufficiently 
below  the  retail  rate  to  be  of  substantial  benefit  to  the  city  residents. 
During  the  first  two  months  of  its  operation,  265  producers,  most  of 
them  living  reasonably  near  to  Eugene,  but  some  of  them  coming  from 
a  considerable  distance,  had  stalls  at  the  markets.  On  one  day  between 
5,000  and  6,000  pounds  of  meat  were  sold;  on  another  day  4,000  pounds 
of  meat.  The  sales  on  one  Saturday  totaled  $1,500.00.  In  three  hours 
on  one  Saturday  morning  2,600  people  came  to  the  market,  as  purchasers. 
This  project  is  still  in  its  infancy  and  will  doubtless  be  developed  con- 
siderably in  the  future.  The  grange  also  established  the  practice  of 
the  cooperative  shipping  of  hogs.  Hogs  shipped  in  this  manner  on 
every  occasion  yielded  the  shippers  a  considerable  advance  above  the 
usual  net  price  received.  Plans  have  been  made  and  will  soon  be  put 
in  operation  to  organize  egg  and  poultry  marketing  circuits  in  different 
parts  of  the  county.  Eggs  will  be  sold  on  guarantee.  An  effort  will 
be  made  to  extend  the  principle  of  cooperative  shipment  to  cover  such 
products  as  potatoes,  beef  cattle,  etc.  Some  of  the  subordinate  granges 
have  done  considerable  cooperative  buying,  particularly  the  North  Fork, 
Irving  and  Lorane  Granges.  Effort  will  be  made  to  have  the  Pomona 
Grange  undertake  such  buying. 

Under  the  general  head  of  cooperative  undertakings  we  have  also 
to  notice  that  there  are  in  the  county  two  cooperative  creameries,  one 
cooperative  cheese  factory  and  four  cooperative  canneries,  one  of  the 
latter  being  operated  by  the  Cooperative  Fruit  Growers'  Association. 
These  various  organizations  are  doing  in  the  main  good  work,  although 
they  are  not  truly  cooperative  in  their  methods  of  organization,  being 
of  the  stock  company  variety.  Besides  the  cooperative  creameries  there 
are  a  number  of  non-cooperative  creameries  at  various  points  in  the 
county. 

A  discussion  of  the  factors  making  for  improved  agriculture  would 
be  very  incomplete  without  mention  of  the  work  of  the  County  Agricul- 
turist. This  position  was  established  in  1914,  and  the  present  incumbent 
began  work  on  November  1  of  that  year.  The  space  of  this  report  does 
not  permit  any  extended  discussion  of  his  work.  The  main  lines  of  his 
work  for  the  first  year  may,  however,  be  summarized  under  the  following 
heads:  (a)  Assistance  given  in  studying  and  controlling  a  serious 
epidemic  of  hog  cholera;  (b)  emphasizing  the  necessity  for  better  and 
more  stock;  organizing  a  Jersey  cattle  club  to  stimulate  more  active 


20          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

interest  in  registered  high  production  dairy  stock;  forming  breeding 
circuits  among  dairy  farmers  and  otherwise  encouraging  the  production 
of  pure  bred  stock,  including  dairy  cattle  and  swine;  (c)  demonstrations 
of  various  sorts  as  to  methods  of  tillage,  orchard  handling,  seed  selection, 
etc.,  including  a  number  of  plowing  contests;  (d)  working  with  the 
granges  of  the  county  in  the  marketing  plans  above  described;  (e)  putting 
into  practise  in  at  least  four  farmers'  organizations  and  twenty-two 
schools  an  efficient  system  of  milk  record  keeping  and  milk  testing; 

(f)  conducting   a   campaign   for   the   effective   control   of   insect   pests; 

(g)  working  with  the  County  Fair  Board  to  make  the  annual  fair  a 
more  truly  educational  institution  from  the  agricultural  point  of  view; 
(h)    making   drainage    surveys   and   otherwise   assisting   in   the   proper 
handling    of    drainage    problems;     (i)     making    farm    management    and 
farm  income  surveys  to  determine  exactly  the  needs  of  agriculture  in 
Lane  County;   (j)  giving  many  lectures  and  talks  under  various  auspices, 
conducting  farm  institutes  and  by  personal  visitation  or  consultation  and 
in  other  ways  bringing  the  gospel  of  better  farming  home  to  the  county. 
The  first  year  of  this  work  has  resulted  in  very  substantial  benefits. 
One  may  safely  prophesy  that  it  will  be  one  of  the  big  factors  for  the 
improvement  of  agricultural  conditions. 

PART    II 
POPULATION  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE 

BY  H.  N.  MORSE 

CHAPTER  I— NUMBER,  DISTRIBUTION  AND  COMPOSITION 
OF  POPULATION 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  the  county  was  at  Pleasant  Hill 
in  1848.  Cloverdale  was  settled  soon  after  and  there  were  other  settle- 
ments in  the  early  '50s,  chiefly  along  the  foothills  east  of  the  main 
valley.  For  many  reasons  the  early  settlers  sought  the  high  ground 
and  it  was  not  until  later  that  any  considerable  settlements  developed 
on  the  valley  floor.  The  county  has  gained  quite  rapidly  in  population 
in  the  last  45  years,  although  it  has  not  moved  forward  at  any  such 
phenomenal  rate  of  speed  as  has  characterized  many  western  communities. 
In  1870  it  had  a  population  of  6,426;  in  the  next  decade  it  made  a  gain 
of  nearly  50  per  cent,  registering  9,411  in  1880.  The  next  ten  years 
showed  a  gain  of  over  60  per  cent  and  the  following  decade  a  much 
smaller  gain  of  29  per  cent.  By  far  the  greatest  gain  was  made  between 
1900  and  1910,  72.3  per  cent,  making  the  total  in  1910,  33,783.  The 
advance  since  that  year  has  been  at  a  somewhat  slower  pace,  the  gain 
for  five  years  being  about  20  per  cent,  which  if  maintained  would  be 
at  a  rate  of  39.6  for  the  decade.  From  the  best  available  sources  we 
estimate  the  population  at  the  time  of  the  survey  as  40,472. 

Eugene,  which  is  not  included  in  this  survey,  has  a  population  of 
11,180,  or  27.6  per  cent  of  the  county's  total.  The  five  next  largest 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          21 

towns,  namely:  Cottage  Grove,  Springfield,  Junction  City,  Coburg  and 
Creswell,  have  an  aggregate  population  of  7,819,  or  19.3  per  cent  of 
the  total.  There  are  many  small  villages  of  from  100  to  150  people. 
In  all  such  villages  and  in  the  open  country  there  are  21,473,  or  57.1 
per  cent  of  the  county's  population.  The  topography  of  the  county  is 
such  that  the  settlement  follows  the  water  courses,  the  great  bulk  of 
the  population  being  in  the  main  open  valley  with  a  considerable  popula- 
tion in  the  valleys  of  the  larger  tributary  rivers.  Only  an  approximate 
distribution  of  population  by  topographic  divisions  can  be  attempted 
and  the  figures  are  not  precise,  but  are  sufficiently  accurate  for  purposes 
of  comparison: 

Lower  Siuslaw  Region — 

Including  the  valley  of  the  Siuslaw  from  Swiss  Home  to  its  mouth, 
and  its  various  tributary  valleys;  the  Lake  Region  south  of  the  river 
and  the  valleys  of  Deadwood  and  Lake  Creek 3,200 

The  Mohawk  Valley — 

Including  also  all  the  territory  north  of  the  Mohawk  and  east  of  the 
Willamette  3,160 

The  McKenzie  Valley — 

Down  to  the  junction  of  the  McKenzie  and  Mohawk  Rivers 1,900 

The  Row   Valley 830 

The  Valley  of  the  Middle  Fork — 

Beginning  with  and  including  Pleasant  Hill ! 2,080 

Eugene,   Springfield  and  Environs — 

Including  the  territory  between  the  McKenzie  and  the  Willamette, 
known  as  the  Willakenzie  district 15,200 

North  of  Eugene — 

Between  the  Long  Tom  and  the  Willamette 4,500 

South  of  Eugene — 

The  valley  of  the  Coast  Fork  to  and  including  Cottage  Grove 5,570 

West  and  Southwest  of  Eugene — 

Including  the  line  of  the  Willamette  and  Pacific  Railroad,  as  far  west 

as  Walton,   and  the  Coyote  and  Spencer  Creek  Valleys 2,000 

The  Balance  of  the  County — 

Including  the  section  south  of  Cottage  Grove,  the  Lorane  Valley  and 
various  scattered  communities 2,000 

The  population  is  very  largely  of  native  American  stock.  More  than 
three-fourths  are  American-born  of  native  parentage,  about  15  per  cent 
are  American-born  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,  and  9  per  cent  are 
foreign-born.  The  percentages  in  the  last  two  groups  are  slightly  increas- 
ing, while  the  percentage  of  the  native-born  of  native  parentage  is 
slightly  decreasing.  Among  the  foreign-born  from  non-English-speaking 
countries,  the  leading  races  numerically  are  German,  Danish,  Greek, 
Norwegian  and  Swedish,  in  the  order  named.  Of  the  native-born  of 
foreign  parentage,  the  Germans,  Danes,  and  Norwegians  lead.  The 
Germans  are  by  far  the  oldest  immigration,  there  being  a  considerable 
number  of  them  in  the  county  as  far  back  as  1880.  These  foreign  groups, 
even  where  permanently  settled  and  land  owning,  are  more  or  less 
colonized.  Examples  of  this  are  the  Danish  settlements  at  Danebo  and 
around  Junction  City  and  the  Norwegian  settlement  west  of  Eugene. 

Fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  total  population  are  males;  45  per  cent  are 
females,  the  discrepancy  between  the  sexes  not  being  here  so  marked  as  in 
many  sections  of  the  west.  The  preponderance  of  males  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  relatively  large  proportion  of  single  men  among  the  mill  and  lumber 
camp  workers,  particularly  among  the  groups  of  the  foreign-born,  as 
indicated  by  the  following  figures.  There  are,  all  told,  11,307  males  of 


22          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

voting  age  in  the  county,  7,801  are  native  whites  of  native  parentage, 
there  being  30.3  per  cent  of  the  total  population  in  the  group.  1,416  are 
native  whites  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,  being  28.6  per  cent  of 
the  total  in  that  group,  where  the  families  average  somewhat  larger 
than  with  the  native  Americans;  2,205  are  foreign-born  whites,  these 
being  72.6  per  cent  of  the  total  in  that  group.  Relatively  few  of  the  men 
in  this  group  have  families.  They  are  largely  attached  to  the  mills  or 
lumber  camps  where  the  population  is  proverbially  shifting.  There  are 
some  variations  to  be  noted  among  the  small  lumber  towns,  but  there 
is  a  saying  that,  "there  are  three  men  for  every  job  in  the  mill;  the 
man  who  had  it  yesterday,  the  man  who  has  it  today,  and  the  man  who 
will  have  it  tomorrow."  It  is  natural  that  the  population  concerned 
with  the  lumber  business  should  be  the  unstable  element  in  the  popula- 
tion. The  agricultural  population  and  the  population  in  the  larger  towns 
is  as  stable  as  one  would  expect  to  find  in  a  growing  section  of  the  west. 
There  are  a  number  of  old,  settled  communities  with  a  good  nucleus  of 
the  original  settlers  or  their  descendants.  There  is  some  shifting  of 
population  as  new  farming  districts  are  developed,  as  one-time  lumber 
districts  attempt  to  readjust  their  economic  basis  and  become  farming 
districts,  or  before,  during  and  after  a  land  boom.  In  districts  which 
have  been  lumber  centers,  but  where  the  lumber  industry  has  halted 
(temporarily  or  permanently),  the  period  of  transition  is  bound  to  be 
one  of  exodus  and  change  whether  or  not  the  community  has  permanent 
agricultural  possibilities. 

Illiteracy  is  an  important  problem  only  among  the  foreign-born.  A 
negligible  number  of  the  adult  males  are  illiterate,  but  one  in  ten  of  the 
foreign-born  adult  males  are  illiterate.  A  little  more  than  half  of  these 
foreign-born  adults  are  naturalized. 

CHAPTER  2— THE   MAKING  OF  A  COMMUNITY 

This  chapter  raises  one  of  the  fundamental  problems  of  social  organi- 
zation and  development.  It  is  relatively  easy  to  make  a  catalogue  of 
the  needs,  interests  and  activities  which  are  of  social  concern,  but  any 
question  of  the  satisfaction  of  those  needs,  of  the  advancement  of  those 
interests,  or  of  the  direction  of  those  activities  presupposes  the  question 
of  the  basis  of  such  efforts  and  of  the  unit  of  territory  or  of  population 
involved.  There  is  an  economic  and  effective  unit  for  social  action  of 
every  sort.  The  determining  of  this  unit  is  not  an  abstract  question 
to  which  an  arbitrary  answer  can  be  returned.  Its  answer  involves 
many  factors;  topography,  physical  accessibility  and  means  of  com- 
munication, since  effective  social  action  is  impossible  where  physical 
barriers  make  social  intercourse  difficult;  a  reasonable  identity  of 
economic  interests  and  a  fair  degree  of  economic  interdependence,  since 
sharply  marked  economic  differences  are  necessarily  reflected  in  the 
social  impulses;  a  measurable  degree  of  social  likeness  and  compatibility, 
which  experience  shows  must  underlie  successful  cooperation  except 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          23 

under  the  most  extraordinary  and  unusual  pressure.  The  unit  of  terri- 
tory and  of  population  delimited  by  these  tests  may  for  practical 
purposes  be  termed  a  community,  and  is  the  effective  unit  for  the 
development  of  interests  primarily  local  and  under  local  control. 

Those  social  concerns  which  are  not  expressed  in  organizations  natur- 
ally arrange  themselves  on  some  such  basis.  Where  definite  institutions 
or  organizations  are  concerned  there  are  other  factors  to  be  considered. 
It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  the  makeup  of  the  actual  community  varies 
according  to  the  particular  interest  which  is  being  considered.  Thus 
the  political  unit,  the  school  unit,  the  church  unit,  the  unit  for  social, 
business  or  fraternal  organization  may  all  be  different.  The  unit  for 
the  handling  of  many  interests  is  decided  in  a  purely  arbitrary  fashion 
and  may  or  may  not,  probably  does  not,  conform  to  the  natural  social 
alignment.  It  follows  that  physical  boundaries,  or  what  we  call  our 
community,  shift  according  to  the  particular  interest  which  is  being 
considered,  except  in  the  case  of  some  completely  isolated  group.  The 
results  include  an  unfortunate  state  of  disorganization  of  interests  and 
a  failure  to  achieve  a  maximum  social  effectiveness.  Organizations  which 
are  interested  not  only  in  the  maintenance  of  their  own  institutions, 
but  also  in  the  building  up  of  the  community  itself,  should  consider  this 
question  of  the  determination  of  the  natural  and  effective  unit  as  the 
basis  for  work.  The  question  should  be  asked  regarding  an  existing  or 
projected  institution,  whether  it  has  a  logical  community  and  whether 
it  is  necessary  in  order  that  all  the  people  and  all  the  territory  may  be 
adequately  served.  One  of  the  most  striking  impressions  of  this  survey 
on  its  institutional  side  concerns  the  undesirability  of  any  institution 
setting  itself  against  the  natural  drift  of  social  forces. 

The  above  statements  are  introduced  to  raise  the  question,  what  are 
the  natural  community  outlines  in  the  territory  under  discussion?  Within 
the  limits  of  this  report  this  question  can  only  be  discussed  in  broad 
and  general  terms.  The  outlines  of  the  most  clearly  defined  communities 
can  be  roughly  indicated;  likewise  the  points  about  which  they  naturally 
center.  The  determination  of  the  exact  limits  of  any  community  for 
any  particular  purpose,  is  a  "laboratory"  concern.  There  are  many 
sections  on  the  fringes  of  clearly  defined  communities  whose  interests 
are  divided,  which  look  one  way  for  one  thing  and  another  way  for 
another  thing,  and  there  are  other  and  larger  sections  which  have  not 
clearly  centered  themselves. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  point  out  that  the  marked  topography  of 
the  county  is  the  determining  factor  in  its  development;  also  that  the 
settlement  of  the  county  follows  the  water  courses.  It  is  a  county  of 
valley  communities.  Ranges  of  hills  or  mountains,  streams,  swampy 
areas  and  other  physical  features  largely  determine  the  direction  and 
extent  of  the  development  of  many  communities.  In  the  broad  Willamette 
Valley  such  features  do  not  so  clearly  set  the  limits  for  community 
extension,  but  even  here  there  are  many  similar  features  which  do 
so  operate. 


24          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


In  the  upper  part  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  are  three  small  lumber 
towns,  Marcola,  Wendling  and  Mabel,  arranged  in  the  form  of  a 
triangle,  with  Marcola  at  the  apex.  In  some  respects  Wendling  is  the 
best  town  of  the  three.  It  has  the  most  stable  population  and  the  best 
general  social  conditions.  These  three  towns  are  the  lumber  centers 
for  a  territory  with  very  considerable  timber  resources.  Each  is  a  very 
definite  community,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  of  social  interplay  among 
them.  Viewing  the  question  from  the  point  of  view  of  future  develop- 
ment, with  special  consideration  for  the  time  when  the  mills  will  have 
permanently  closed,  it  appears  that  there  will  still  be  a  considerable 
settlement  at  this  end  of  the  valley  and  that  it  will  probably  center  into 
Marcola.  A  little  below  Marcola  there  is  something  of  a  settlement 
at  Donna,  where  there  was  a  mill,  now  closed.  There  are  a  few 
permanent  possibilities  here.  In  the  long  run  it  would  appear  that 
Marcola  will  become  the  center  of  a  community,  which  will  include, 
possibly,  the  entire  valley  from  Donna  up.  There  is  something  of  a 
center  at  Hendricks,  at  the  junction  of  the  Mohawk  and  the  McKenzie 
Rivers.  A  rally  held  here  will  draw  from  a  considerable  distance,  but 
the  people  so  drawn  do  not  mingle  freely  and  generally.  Hendricks  is 
more  of  a  meeting  place  than  a  community.  The  McKenzie  Valley 
is  open  and  accessible  clear  back  into  the  mountains,  but  there  are  no 
considerable  settlements  beyond  Vida  and  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
any  will  develop.  The  territory  around  Vida  can  support  a  considerable 
population.  The  people  are  divided  and  Vida  has  developed  no  special 
social  strength,  but  it  has  possibilities  as  a  community  center.  Below 
Vida  is  Leaburg,  which  is  something  of  a  center  for  lodge  and  school 
and  social  life.  This  point  may  develop  strength  beyond  any  of  which 
indications  have  yet  been  given.  The  next  point  reached  going  down  the 
valley  is  Walterville.  Here  is  a  very  promising  agricultural  community. 
Walterville  is  now  the  high  school  and  lodge  and  social  center  for  a 
considerable  population  and  would  be  the  religious  center,  if  its  religious 
forces  had  not  become  so  hopelessly  divided.  It  could  very  easily  be 
made  the  center  of  a  community  which  would  include  the  valley  from 
Dearhorn  practically  to  Thurston.  At  Thurston  is  a  community  which 
is  strong  in  certain  respects;  very  much  of  a  social  center  with  one  of 
the  busiest  dance  halls  in  the  county,  with  a  strong  Parent-Teachers' 
Association  and  a  good  high  school.  Its  position,  midway  between  Walter- 
ville and  Springfield,  and  not  a  great  way  from  either  of  them,  will 
prevent  it  from  developing  greatly. 

In  the  section  bounded  on  the  west  and  south  by  the  Willamette  and 
McKenzie  Rivers  and  on  the  east  by  the  hills  bordering  the  Mohawk 
Valley  is  one  of  the  best  and  most  promising  communities  in  the  county. 
The  center  for  this  territory  is  Coburg.  This  town  is  an  interesting 
instance  of  the  change  which  a  considerable  part  of  the  county  has 
gone  through,  or  will  go  through.  Coburg  was  a  mill  town,  which  as 
a  mill  town  developed  a  population  of  about  1,000,  and  paid  relatively 
little  attention  to  the  rich  farming  country  around  it.  In  the  course 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          25 

of  time  its  mill  closed,  many  people  moved  from  the  town  and  there 
were  lean  days.  Some  of  the  residents  still  believe  that  the  whole  future 
of  the  village  depends  upon  the  possibility  of  its  mill  reopening,  and 
yet  Coburg  draws  from  a  fine  territory  extending  almost  to  Harrisburg. 
It  has  the  best  grange  in  the  county  with  some  of  the  best  grange 
leaders.  If  it  will  turn  its  attention  to  the  development  of  its  farming 
territory  in  a  wise  and  constructive  fashion,  it  should  be  the  center  of 
one  of  the  most  clearly  defined  and  best  developed  farming  communities 
in  the  county. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Middle  Fork  of  the  Willamette  from  the  point 
of  its  junction  with  the  Coast  Fork  to  the  farthest  point  up  the  stream 
to  which  a  settlement  has  extended  are  a  number  of  communities  more 
or  less  clearly  defined  and  developed.  The  first  is  Jasper.  This  is  a 
good  grange  community  and  a  good  general  community  in  the  making. 
It  draws  from  both  sides  of  the  river  from  Natron  up.  It  gets  every- 
thing adjacent  to  it  east  of  the  river  and  south  of  the  river  to  the  edge 
of  the  Pleasant  Hill  community.  If  it  were  a  little  farther  from 
Pleasant  Hill  it  would  probably  develop  more  than  it  will. 

Pleasant  Hill,  lying  almost  midway  between  the  Coast  Fork  and  the 
Middle  Fork,  is  one  of  the  most  clearly  defined  and  most  interesting 
communities  in  the  county.  Since  it  is  discussed  in  a  separate  chapter 
of  this  report  no  further  comment  upon  it  is  necessary  at  this  point. 

Further  up  the  river  from  Jasper  is  Fall  Creek,  at  the  convergence 
of  several  small  streams.  This  is  a  distinct  neighborhood  and  will 
probably  be  permanently  the  center  of  a  considerable  community.  It 
draws  from  one  side  of  the  river  only,  down  stream  as  far  as  Jasper 
community  and  up  stream  to,  but  not  including  Winberry.  The  territory 
from  Winberry  on  centers  into  Lowell. 

Lowell  draws  chiefly  from  one  side  of  the  river,  though  for  certain 
purposes  it  drains  a  much  larger  territory.  It  has  a  strong  school  and 
grange,  its  own  agricultural  fair,  which  will  be  held  annually,  and  a 
fairly  well  developed  social  life.  It  may  be  said  to  have  strong  possi- 
bilities. There  is  very  little  development  beyond  the  Lowell  community 
and  probably  never  will  be.  Oak  Ridge  is  the  center  of  what  little 
there  is. 

Crossing  the  river  at  Lowell  and  working  back  one  comes  first  to 
Dexter,  and  then  to  Trent.  There  is  not  here  any  clearly  defined 
community  life,  each  point  being  something  of  a  center  for  certain 
interests,  the  people  being  more  or  less  divided  and  drawn  in  several 
different  directions.  There  may  be  the  making  of  a  good  community 
here,  if  it  can  be  properly  united.  Trent  is  on  the  edge  of  the  Pleasant 
Hill  community.  The  only  other  valley  in,  the  eastern  half  of  the  county 
is  the  Row  River  Valley.  There  is  still  lumber  in  this  valley,  although 
its  active  lumbering  days  are  almost  over.  As  far  up  as  Starr  there 
are  farming  possibilities,  not  yet  very  extensively  developed.  Dorena 
is  the  center  and  has  an  opportunity  to  become  a  very  fine  community. 


26          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


Cottage  Grove,  a  town  of  over  2,000,  is  the  center  for  the  lower  part 
of  the  valley  of  the  Coast  Fork  of  the  Willamette.  It  is  not  only  the 
center  of  a  fine  farming  region  and  of  a  region  with  an  immense  amount 
of  commercial  timber,  but  also  has  some  little  local  industry  developed 
and  a  very  considerable  territory  drains  into  Cottage  Grove.  Near  it 
are  some  small  communities  with  local  interests  fairly  well  developed, 
but  which  on  account  of  their  proximity  to  Cottage  Grove  probably  will 
not  develop  to  any  great  extent.  Such  are  Hebron,  where  there  are 
a  good  many  people  if  they  could  be  gotten  together,  and  Silk  Creek, 
west  of  Cottage  Grove,  which  is  important  only  as  being  a  settlement 
of  people  of  the  Seventh  Day  Adventist  faith.  North  of  Cottage  Grove 
a  short  distance  is  the  one-time  lumber  town  of  Saginaw,  which  has 
no  permanent  possibilities.  A  short  distance  further  north  is  Walker, 
which  is  the  center  for  a  considerable  farming  territory  and  has  a 
much  better  chance  to  develop  than  Saginaw  and  may  be  something 
of  a  community  center.  But  it  is  probable  that  there  will  be  no 
considerable  community  development  north  of  Cottage  Grove  short  of 
Creswell.  This  town  a  few  years  ago  expected  to  become  one  of  the 
world's  fruit  growing  centers.  Since  it  has  turned  out  that  it  probably 
won't  be  able  to  realize  that  ambition  it  has  been  more  or  less  quiescent, 
but  it  is  the  center  of  a  very  fine  agricultural  territory,  drawing  every- 
thing near  it  west  of  the  river  from  Walker  nearly  to  Goshen  and  east 
of  the  river  to  the  edge  of  the  Pleasant  Hill  community. 

Just  east  of  the  river  is  Cloverdale,  the  second  oldest  settled  com- 
munity in  the  county.  This  is  something  of  a  local  center,  but  in  the 
main  this  territory  drains  into  Creswell. 

Goshen,  on  the  railroad,  midway  between  Creswell  and  Eugene,  would 
naturally  from  its  location  be  the  center  of  a  considerable  territory,  but 
Goshen  has  never  shown  itself  to  be  effective  in  any  way  and  conse- 
quently has  never  developed  and  may  never  do  so. 

In  the  territory  at  the  head  of  the  Willamette  River  proper  are  the 
cities  of  Springfield  and  Eugene,  which  are  the  local  centers  for  a 
very  considerable  territory.  Eugene  also  is  the  county's  largest  city 
and  county  seat,  and  the  home  of  the  State  University,  being  in  many 
respects  the  center  of  the  life  of  the  entire  county.  In  this  vicinity  are 
a  number  of  communities,  interesting  and  important  for  certain  con- 
siderations, but  which  are  too  near  the  city  not  to  be  more  or  less 
permanently  dependent  upon  it.  Such  are  the  Willakenzie  and  the 
Norkenzie  neighborhood;  the  River  road  community;  Danebo,  the  Danish 
settlement;  the  Dunn  community,  just  outside  the  city  limits,  and  the 
Bailey  Hill  community.  Just  far  enough  north  of  Eugene  to  make  a 
considerable  development  possible  are  Irving  and  Santa  Clara.  There 
is  not  much  excuse  for  two  centers  as  near  together  as  these  two  points. 
Irving  is  on  the  railroad  and  of  course  has  an  advantage  in  that 
particular  and  is  something  of  a  center  for  the  territory  extending  north 
almost  to  Junction  City.  But  Santa  Clara  has  shown  itself  much  more 
effective  socially  and  seems  to  have  much  greater  possibilities.  River- 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          27 

view,  east  of  the  main  line  of  the  railroad  and  near  the  river,  some 
three  miles  from  Junction  City,  is  a  good  local  center,  both  religiously 
and  socially,  but  is  too  near  Junction  City  to  develop  extensively.  East 
of  the  main  line  of  the  railroad  on  the  Corvallis  branch,  is  Alvadore, 
a  new  town  in  a  newly  developed  fruit  project.  This  point  will  probably 
take  all  the  Fern  Ridge  some  day  and  should  be  a  community  center 
of  considerable  importance.  About  three  miles  from  it  and  off  the 
railroad  is  Franklin,  a  much  older  settled  community  and  still  the  center 
for  a  considerable  territory.  It  probably  will  decline  in  influence  as 
Alvadore  grows.  Something  may  develop  west  of  Junction  City  around 
Ferguson,  although  there  is  little  there  now  except  a  considerable  terri- 
tory which  might  well  center  itself  at  some  point  on  that  branch  of 
the  railroad.  Junction  City  is  the  main  point  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  county,  a  thriving  rural  village,  which  if  it  does  not  make  the 
mistake  of  considering  itself  a  city  should  become  even  a  more  important 
community  center  than  it  now  is. 

West  of  the  main  valley  are  a  number  of  important  communities. 
Near  the  southern  border  of  the  county,  west  of  Cottage  Grove  and 
separated  from  it  by  the  Calapooia  Mountains,  is  Lorane.  Here  is  an 
extensive  valley,  which  although  still  without  very  ready  access  to  the 
main  lines  of  communication,  has  fine  agricultural  possibilities.  Lorane 
is  the  lodge,  grange  and  social  center  for  a  territory  extending  nearly 
to  Hadleyville.  Further  north  is  Crow,  a  good  community  of  limited 
extent,  but  of  fine  possibilities,  and  still  further  north  the  towns  of 
Veneta  and  Elmira.  Elmira  lies  a  couple  of  miles  north  of  the  Willamette- 
Pacific  Railroad,  while  Veneta  is  a  new  town  on  that  railroad.  They 
are  really  one  community,  although  Elmira  certainly  would  not  admit 
it  at  the  present  time.  Veneta  is  one  of  those  new  subdivisions  born 
with  the  curious  opinion  that  it  is  destined  to  become  a  great  industrial 
center.  A  large  billboard  conspicuously  placed  displays  a  highly 
imaginative  picture  of  what  Veneta  is  to  be  in  1920.  This  picture  shows 
large  office  buildings,  well  paved  streets  and  other  urban  symbols. 
Its  enterprising  newspaper  correspondent  is  already  referring  to  its 
suburbs,  although  the  stumps  are  not  yet  cleared  from  its  public  square. 
These  fond  dreams  will  never  come  true,  but  Veneta  should  be  the 
center  for  a  good  territory,  primarily  agricultural  in  character.  There 
are  one  or  two  smaller  communities  in  this  general  section  deserving 
mention,  although  they  will  never  develop  very  great  strength.  One 
of  these  is  the  small  Norwegian  settlement  near  Mirth.  Another  is 
the  Spencer  Creek  neighborhood.  This  valley,  shut  in  on  three  sides, 
will  always  be  something  of  a  community,  although  it  depends  on  Eugene 
commercially  and  educationally  and  somewhat  on  other  adjoining 
communities  socially. 

Going  westward  toward  the  coast  after  crossing  the  first  range  of 
mountains  one  comes  to  the  Lake  Creek  Valley.  In  the  upper  part  of 
this  valley  from  Horton  to  Greenleaf  there  is  a  stretch  of  fine  farming 
land,  probably  the  best  in  the  county.  This  is  a  fairly  old  settled  section, 


28          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


although  it  has  developed  slowly.  Blachly  is  the  center.  At  Greenleaf 
the  valley  narrows  down.  Below  that  point  to  the  junction  of  the 
Lake  Creek  with  the  Deadwood  and  up  the  Deadwood  Creek  perhaps 
ten  miles  there  are  a  good  many  people,  but  the  development  is  not 
extensive  at  any  one  point.  Deadwood  and  Alpha  are  both  centers  in 
a  small  way.  Something  may  develop  here,  although  as  batter  roads 
permit  it  this  whole  section  will  come  more  and  more  to  seek  an  outlet 
on  the  railroad  at  Swiss  Home.  Since,  however,  that  is  too  far  for 
anything  but  a  shipping,  and  possibly  a  trading  point,  either  Alpha 
or  Deadwood  may  develop  social  importance. 

The  territory  from  here  to  the  coast  is  very  broken  and  the  open 
spaces  are  nowhere  very  extensive.  On  the  Siuslaw  to  Mapleton  there 
is  some  little  development.  Mapleton  is  the  trading  point,  the  high 
school  center  and  to  some  extent  the  social  center  for  the  people  living 
in  a  number  of  small,  adjacent  valleys,  as  well  as  for  those  living 
along  the  Siuslaw,  itself,  for  some  little  distance.  Its  only  claim  to 
permanence,  however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  convenient  meeting 
point  and  that  it  is  situated  at  the  head  of  tidewater.  This  last  was 
an  important  point  before  the  railroad  came  in,  since  the  river  was  the 
main  thoroughfare.  But  the  railroad,  already  in  operation  to  the  Coos 
Bay  region,  will  probably  change  the  complexion  of  things  very  much 
and  Mapleton  seems  to  have  little  future.  There  will  probably  always 
be  a  considerable  settlement  near  the  mouth  of  the  Siuslaw.  This  is 
a  deep  water  port,  whose  importance,  however,  does  not  seem  to  be  so 
great  since  the  railroad  was  completed.  There  are  at  present  three 
settlements,  Florence,  Acme  and  Glenada.  The  future  of  none  of  these 
is  any  too  certain,  but  Florence  is  at  present  the  best  town  of  the  three, 
although  the  railroad  may  cause  some  recentering  of  interests,  since  it 
crosses  the  river  and  turns  south  a  number  of  miles  above  Florence. 
There  is  quite  a  settlement  for  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  up  the  North- 
east Siuslaw,  which  empties  into  the  main  river  Just  below  Acme.  This 
is  navigable  for  small  craft  seven  or  eight  miles  from  its  mouth. 
Minerva  is  the  point  further  up  this  valley,  but  Portage  is  the  center. 
This  is  the  oldest  settled  section  in  this  part  of  the  coast  region.  There 
is  quite  a  community  development  here.  There  will  always  be  a  con- 
siderable settlement  south  of  the  Siuslaw  around  the  lakes  and  in  the 
several  little  valleys  of  that  district.  There  are  now  small  communities 
at  Alder  Ridge,  Maple  Creek  and  Fiddle  Creek,  with  some  developing 
local  social  life.  The  coming  of  the  railroad  will  cause  considerable 
realignment,  the  exact  nature  of  which  we  cannot  forecast. 

These  are  the  main  community  divisions  of  the  county.  There  are 
many  very  small  communities  centering  chiefly  around  schools,  some  of 
them  fairly  well  developed,  but  in  almost  all  cases  they  involve  too  small 
a  territory  and  too  meager  a  population  to  have  any  very  definite 
possibilities.  In  concluding  this  subject  we  may  note  that  we  are  here 
dealing  with  communities  of  a  number  of  very  distinct  types,  which  we 
may  classify  under  the  following  heads:  First,  small,  scattered  groups 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          29 

in  isolated  valleys  and  coves,  where  the  difficulties  of  communication 
and  the  topographic  extremes  of  the  country  provide  effective  physical 
barriers  to  the  development.  There  is  a  considerable  population,  all  told, 
living  in  such  communities.  Second,  communities  which  are  reasonably 
accessible,  which  have  adequate  resources  to  support  a  considerable 
population  and  its  necessary  social  institutions,  but  whose  major  develop- 
ment is  left  for  the  future.  Third,  the  lumber  mill  communities  of  the 
smaller  sort;  communities  built  up  around  a  lumber  camp  or  a  mill, 
whose  future  depends  upon  the  maintenance  of  that  one  industry,  which 
is  so  conducted,  however,  that  the  time  must  inevitably  come  when  it 
will  find  its  main  excuse  for  existing  gone.  Such  communities  present 
one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  socially,  because  of  the  shifting 
character  of  the  population  and  the  type  of  that  population,  because  of 
the  fluctuations  in  prosperity  as  the  lumber  industry  expands  and 
contracts  and  because  of  their  almost  inevitable  decline  and  the  uncer- 
tainty as  to  their  ability  to  make  readjustments  to  any  permanent 
economic  basis.  Fourth,  communities  which  are  facing  now  the  situation 
forecasted  for  the  communities  just  mentioned.  They  are  in  the  transi- 
tion period  and  their  problems  are  those  of  readjustment.  Fifth,  perma- 
nently established  and  fairly  well  developed  farming  communities,  where 
institutions  are  reasonably  mature  and  the  population  reasonably  stable. 
Sixth,  such  strictly  rural  villages  as  Junction  City  and  Creswell,  centers 
for  fine  farming  territory,  and  themselves  well  established.  Seventh,  the 
larger  towns,  which  aside  from  being  centers  for  an  agricultural  terri- 
tory, have  developed  something  of  a  local  industry  fairly  permanent  in 
character.  Eighth,  those  communities  which  have  outlived  their  useful- 
ness, where  the  industry  or  the  need  for  which  they  were  established  no 
longer  exists,  and  where  no  other  permanent  resources  or  needs  seem 
likely  to  be  developed. 

A  clear  understanding  of  this  composite  nature  of  the  county  must 
necessarily  underlie  all  work  of  social  and  institutional  reorganization 
or  development. 

CHAPTER   3— SOCIAL   ORGANIZATIONS 

There  are  many  organizations  of  many  sorts  scattered  throughout 
the  county.  These  include  commercial  clubs  and  improvement  associa- 
tions, secret  fraternal  societies,  literary,  dramatic  or  social  organizations, 
agricultural  societies,  such  as  the  grange,  and  others  with  purposes 
educational,  musical,  religious,  athletic  and  what  not.  Many  of  these 
organizations  are  of  purely  local  significance;  others  draw  over  a  con- 
siderable territory  and  may  be  said  to  be  community  organizations  in 
a  broad  sense,  while  a  few  include  a  large  district,  or  perhaps  the 
whole  county.  To  list  the  names  and  functions  of  these  organizations 
would  be  a  fruitless  task;  likewise  a  difficult  one,  since  many  of  them 
are  evanescent  in  character.  It  will  suffice  for  our  present  purpose 
to  indicate  the  general  availability  throughout  the  county  of  organiza- 


30          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


tions  for  various  purposes.  Of  the  most  general  importance  is  the 
grange.  This  has  twenty-one  locals  with  well  over  2,000  members  for 
the  county.  The  effort  has  been  made  to  organize  these  local  granges 
on  a  basis  of  natural  community  outlines,  rather  than  within  arbitrary 
school  district  or  political  boundaries.  This  has  given  to  every  grange 
in  the  county  a  natural  clientele  and  has  greatly  enhanced  the  oppor- 
tunities. There  is  also  a  strong  Pomona  Grange.  These  granges  cover 
practically  the  entire  county,  there  being  not  more  than  four  or  five 
communities  remaining  where  a  grange  should  logically  be  established. 
Reference  has  been  made  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Pomona  Grange 
has  organized  for  the  promotion  of  various  forms  of  cooperative  work. 
To  a  rather  greater  extent  than  is  often  the  case  with  similar  organiza- 
tions, there  is  shown  an  intelligence  and  active  interest  in  many  of 
the  problems  of  most  fundamental  concern  to  the  farmers  of  the  county. 
Its  direct  economic  importance  to  the  county  is  great  and  it  has  also 
been  a  large  factor  in  its  social  development. 

There  are  many  fraternal  societies  scattered  throughout  the  county, 
twenty-two  points  having  organizations  of  this  sort,  which  draw  their 
membership  from  practically  all  parts  of  the  county.  In  many  com- 
munities these  lodges  play  a  very  large  part  in  the  social  life.  At  least 
fifteen  points,  many  of  them  in  the  open  country,  are  known  to  have 
literary  or  dramatic  societies  meeting  regularly.  These  seem  to  attract 
far  more  interest  than  might  be  expected. 

Eleven  schools  report  the  existence  of  active  parent-teachers'  associa- 
tions. The  number  of  these  is  increasing.  While  they  vary  in  the 
extent  of  their  influence,  they  have  often  been  very  successful  in 
stimulating  interest  in  the  school  and  in  obtaining  the  active  cooperation 
of  the  patrons  in  the  work  of  school  improvement.  There  are  commercial 
clubs  in  the  larger  towns  and  in  a  number  of  the  smaller  villages. 
Several  towns  also  have  ladies'  improvement  associations.  There  are 
a  number  of  W.  C.  T.  U.  organizations  and  charitable  organizations 
of  various  sorts.  There  are  many  societies  which  are  purely  social  in 
scope.  These  include  sewing  and  gossip  clubs,  card  clubs,  athletic  clubs 
and  similar  organizations,  and  are  found  in  all  the  larger  towns  and 
perhaps  a  dozen  other  communities.  In  some  eight  or  ten  communities 
there  are  musical  organizations,  either  instrumental  or  vocal.  Several 
of  these  are  in  the  country  and  are  interesting  as  showing  what  can  be 
done  with  music  in  the  country  districts,  when  the  proper  leadership 
is  obtainable. 

The  various  organizations  described  above,  together  with  the  schools 
and  the  churches,  are  the  sources  of  most  of  the  social  life  of  the  county. 
Except  in  the  larger  towns  where  there  are  theaters  and  moving  picture 
establishments,  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of  the  general  social 
life  is  provided  by  private  individuals  or  companies  for  commercial 
reasons.  The  social  life  which  centers  around  the  schools  will  be  made 
the  subject  of  a  separate  paragraph  and  the  social  work  of  the  churches 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          31 

will  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  general  church  program.  There 
are  lodge  halls,  grange  halls  or  social  halls  erected  by  public  subscription 
in  twenty-three  communities  of  the  county,  and  private  halls  available 
for  public  gatherings  in  seven  other  communities.  These  provide  places 
of  meeting  for  practically  all  of  the  settled  parts  of  the  county.  In 
addition  the  school  buildings  and  the  church  buildings  are  to  some  extent 
used  for  miscellaneous  public  meetings,  where  no  public  hall  is  available. 
The  majority  of  the  public  halls  seem  to  find  their  primary  social  function 
as  dance  balls.  Eighteen  communities  of  the  county  report  frequent 
public  or  semi-public  dances,  many  of  them  having  regular  bi-weekly 
or  weekly  affairs.  These  dances  often  draw  from  great  distances.  The 
all-night  dance  is  a  not  infrequent  form  of  amusement.  Except  in  a 
few  instances  no  specially  objectionable  features  have  appeared  in 
connection  with  these  public  dances.  Of  course,  like  people,  like  dance, 
and  the  dance  in  a  lumber  camp  or  in  an  isolated  farming  community 
does  not  possess  the  same  social  qualities  that  characterize  the  hall  room 
activities  of  the  cities.  But  in  relatively  few  instances  is  any  moral 
excess  of  any  sort  apparent  in  connection  with  these  entertainments. 
There  are  a  few  communities  in  the  county  which  have  no  other  form 
of  voluntarily  maintained  institutional  life  except  the  community  dance 
hall  and  this  form  of  social  enjoyment  seems  more  deeply  rooted  in  the 
public  affections  than  any  other.  For  example,  a  school  teacher  of  one 
community  reported  that  it  was  impossible  to  arouse  or  maintain  any 
interest  in  educational  matters  or  in  the  improvement  of  the  school  and 
its  equipment,  because  the  community  was  a  community  of  renters  who 
moved  almost  annually.  In  that  same  community  is  an  abandoned  church 
and  no  form  of  religious  work  is  now  carried  on,  presumably  for  the 
same  reason.  Yet  a  public  dance  hall  has  been  maintained  for  many 
years  and  a  new  one  had  just  been  erected  and  there  has  seemingly 
been  no  special  difficulty  in  getting  the  requisite  amount  of  social  action 
for  this  undertaking.  Not  all  of  the  dancing,  of  course,  is  done  in  the 
public  halls  or  the  public  dances  and  home  dances  or  other  private 
entertainments  are  very  frequent  everywhere. 

Practically  all  the  communities  which  maintain  literary  or  dramatic 
societies  give  occasional  public  programs  or  present  home  talent  plays. 
Fifteen  communities  reported  entertainments  of  this  kind  in  addition 
to  the  programs  rendered  in  connection  with  the  schools.  These  included 
debates,  plays  and  miscellaneous  programs.  The  debates  are  generally 
upon  trifling  subjects,  such  as  the  relative  merits  of  reading  and  obser- 
vation, or  the  relative  delights  of  pursuit  and  possession,  and  the  home 
talent  plays  are  generally  of  a  rather  inconsequential  sort,  but  the 
importance  of  the  work  of  such  societies  should  not  be  under-estimated, 
even  though  the  material  which  they  use  is  of  an  inferior  character. 
It  will  not  be  possible  or  valuable  to  attempt  to  catalogue  all  the  other 
kinds  of  social  gatherings  which  are  held  in  one  part  of  the  county 
or  another.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  there  seems  to  be  in  most 
communities  very  ample  provision  for  recreation. 


32          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

Community  meetings  for  other  than  social  purposes  are  frequent  in 
most  of  the  county.  Agricultural  meetings  and  institutes  were  held 
during  the  year  in  more  than  thirty  communities,  many  of  these  com- 
munities being  addressed  a  number  of  times  during  the  year  on  agricul- 
tural topics,  by  the  County  Agriculturist  or  other  experts.  Twenty-seven 
communities  had  during  the  year  on  one  or  more  occasions  public 
lectures  other  than  agricultural,  including  in  many  instances  the  extension 
work  of  the  university.  Seven  of  these  communities  reported  frequent 
lectures,  while  a  number  of  others  reported  at  least  several  during  the 
year.  An  important  and  interesting  form  of  community  gathering  is 
the  school  rally,  which  will  be  referred  to  in  the  section  on  educational 
activities.  These  rallies  gather  together  the  people  of  the  community 
in  great  numbers  for  the  consideration  of  matters  connected  with  the 
welfare  of  the  school  and  for  an  all-day  social  time.  There  are  various 
annual  occasions  of  more  than  local  significance  which  should  be  men- 
tioned. Such  include  the  Annual  School  Fair,  the  Lane  County  Fair, 
•the  Rhododendron  Festival  at  Florence,  the  Pumpkin  Show  at  Junction 
City,  the  Pleasant  Hill  Picnic,  the  Lowell  Fair,  and  the  Grange  Fair 
at  Cottage  Grove. 

In  addition  to  these  more  or  less  formal  types  of  recreation  we  may 
refer  again  to  the  character  of  the  county  and  to  the  fact  that  the 
mountains  afford  such  ample  opportunities  for  hiking,  camping,  fishing 
and  hunting,  which  are  amusements  in  which  a  very  large  part  of  the 
county  indulge  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  elementary  schools  in  session 
in  the  county  last  year.  Reports  on  their  social  activities  were  received 
from  one  hundred  and  fifty-five.  Various  forms  of  entertainment  par- 
ticipated in  by  the  community  at  large  were  held  in  all  but  twenty-two 
of  this  number.  The  other  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  reported  enter- 
tainments held  during  the  previous  year  to  the  following  number: 

Schools   having  one   entertainment   a  year 23 

Schools  having  two  entertainmens  a  year 39 

Schools  having  three  to  five  entertainments  a  year 52 

Schools  having  six   to   ten   entertainments  a  year 12 

Schools  having  ten  or  more  entertainments  a  year 7 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  course  of  the  year  several  hundred  enter- 
tainments were  held.  These  were  of  various  sorts,  but  usually  contained 
musical,  literary  and  dramatic  features  and  usually  the  children  were 
the  only  participants  in  the  programs,  but  in  some  few  cases  the  adults 
of  the  community  were  utilized.  One  hundred  and  thirteen  schools 
reported  that  these  entertainments  were  very  well  attended  by  the  people 
of  the  school  district,  many  schools  reporting  an  attendance  of  100  per 
cent  of  their  patrons.  Ten  of  the  schools  reported  a  fair  attendance, 
while  in  only  ten  instances  were  the  patrons  unresponsive. 

No  definite  report  on  the  social  activities  were  received  from  the 
high  schools  of  the  county,  but  many  of  them  gave  frequent  entertain- 
ments of  one  sort  or  another,  which  were  attended  by  the  people  of  the 
community.  The  Springfield  High  School  was  a  notable  instance  of  the 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          33 

possible  social  importance  of  the  schools,  its  regular  literary  programs 
during  the  winter  being  attended  by  as  many  of  the  patrons  as  the 
auditorium  would  accommodate. 

In  communities  where  no  public  hall  is  available  the  schools  are  quite 
generally  used  for  various  kinds  of  social  and  other  community  gather- 
ings. Thirty-four  districts  reported  the  use  of  the  building  for  road 
meetings,  elections  and  similar  gatherings;  five  for  lectures;  eighteen  for 
parties  or  meetings  of  local  societies;  twenty-five  for  church  and  Sunday 
School,  and  twelve  for  Sunday  School  alone. 

CHAPTER  4— SOME   COMMUNITY  CHARACTERISTICS 

A  county  whose  physical  and  industrial  makeup  shows  such  marked 
variations  might  be  expected  to  show  equally  marked  variations  in  its 
social  characteristics,  especially  in  view  of  the  recent  character  of  much 
of  its  development,  and  of  the  changing  or  uncertain  economic  basis 
of  many  of  its  communities.  Economic  transition  or  uncertainty  is  a 
factor  that  must  militate  against  the  acquisition  of  community  stability, 
while  stability  once  it  is  attained  very  frequently  does  not  lend  itself  to 
social  effectiveness.  Many  different  testimonies  are  available  as  to 
community  characteristics  from  people  who  deal  with  the  problems  of 
school  or  church  administration,  agricultural  improvement  and  social 
organization.  Certain  generalizations  may  safely  be  made  on  the  basis 
of  these  various  testimonies.  The  older  settled  communities  in  whose 
industrial  character  there  has  been  no  marked  change  or  development 
seem  to  be  lacking  in  flexibility.  They  have  a  measure  of  stability  in 
population  and  institutions,  but  they  are  not  progressive,  do  not  readily 
adapt  themselves  to  changing  conditions  or  methods  and  do  not  readily 
assimilate  new  elements  in  the  population.  There  are  a  number  of 
such  communities  in  the  county  which  on  several  accounts  should  be 
capable  now  of  the  most  effective  social  action,  which  are  less  capable 
of  it  today  than  they  were  a  number  of  years  ago.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  many  of  the  newer  settled  communities  one  finds  social  ineffectiveness 
for  an  entirely  different  reason.  We  have  noted  that  there  are  com- 
munities in  the  county  which  are  comparatively  isolated,  which  are 
relatively  undeveloped,  or  which  are  now  in  a  transition  period.  These 
communities  are  among  the  least  progressive  in  the  county  and  do  not 
readily  lend  themselves  to  effective  social  action.  The  communities 
which  are  most  effective  socially  are  those  which  are  accessible  and 
provided  with  reasonably  good  transportation  facilities,  which  are  not 
old  enough  to  be  too  thoroughly  crystallized,  either  as  to  their  institutions 
or  as  to  their  social  methods,  where  there  is  a  nucleus  of  old  residents 
sufficient  to  give  stability,  but  not  sufficient  to  dominate  the  social 
situation  and  check  the  efforts  toward  change  and  improvement,  and 
where  there  is  a  fair  degree  of  social  compatibility,  but  not  a  sufficient 
degree  of  inter-relationship  or  likeness  to  promote  clannishness  unduly. 
As  an  instance  of  the  foregoing  we  may  take  the  one  example  of  the 


34          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

problems  of  agricultural  improvement.  The  oldest  and  most  compact 
communities  in  the  county  have  shown  relatively  little  interest.  At  the 
same  time  for  various  reasons  there  has  not  been  much  progress  made 
even  in  the  most  accessible  of  the  undeveloped  regions.  The  work  receives 
its  most  interested  support  from  the  fairly  well  developed,  but  compara- 
tively young  communities  in  the  main  valley  and  these  communities  are, 
generally  speaking,  the  most  promising  ones  from  every  social  point 
of  view. 

There  are  certain  educational  movements  which  have  had  such  a 
direct  social  effect  that  they  should  be  mentioned  here,  though  they 
will  be  discussed  more  in  detail  in  connection  with  the  discussion  of 
educational  conditions.  We  refer  particularly  to  the  movement  for  the 
standardization  of  schools  and  to  the  practice  of  holding  annual  school 
rallies.  Each  of  these  has  been  of  very  great  value  in  stimulating 
general  interest  in  educational  matters  and  in  arousing  and  directing 
social  action.  In  general,  there  is  an  increasingly  favorable  attitude 
toward  the  schools  and  an  increasing  amount  of  active  cooperation  from 
the  community  is  available  for  the  schools.  The. teachers  in  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  districts  reported  as  to  the  attitude  of  the  community 
toward  the  schools.  Seventy-eight  of  these  reported  that  the  patrons 
of  the  district  were  favorably  active.  This,  of  course,  is  not  a  very 
descriptive  term,  but  in  general  its  meaning  is  clear.  The  patrons  are 
interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  school,  attend  its  exercises,  occasionally 
visit  it,  and  arouse  themselves  to  help  it  whenever  the  occasion  offers. 
Twenty-three  reported  patrons  favorable,  but  inactive.  What  was  usually 
meant  in  this  case  was  that  the  teacher  is  allowed  to  have  her  own  way 
without  much  interference  and  that  the  patrons  can  be  persuaded  to 
attend  an  occasional  public  program.  Four  schools  reported  the  patrons 
active,  but  unfavorable.  It  is  quite  astonishing  that  in  only  four  out  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty-one  districts  was  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
community  against  school  improvement.  In  ten  other  communities  there 
was  an  amount  of  opposition,  the  districts  being  reported  as  divided 
on  the  question  of  such  progress.  Thirty-six  districts  reported  a  com- 
plete indifference,  an  encouragingly  small  per  cent  of  the  total  number. 

As  regards  most  social  concerns,  the  people  of  the  county  are  in 
general  accustomed  to  think  in  the  terms  of  too  small  a  unit.  Some 
exceptions  must  be  made  to  this  statement.  For  example,  the  whole  lower 
valley  of  the  Siuslaw  has  acted  together  regarding  its  port,  a  matter 
considered  of  vital  importance  to  that  territory.  The  Pomona  Grange 
and  to  a  less  extent  the  local  granges  have  had  a  very  important 
influence  in  getting  action  through  a  considerable  territory  on  matters 
of  more  than  local  concern  and  in  getting  farmers  to  think  regarding 
those  concerns  in  larger  units.  The  success  attending  these  efforts 
shows  clearly  how  much  more  effectively  such  concerns  as  schools  and 
public  roads  might  be  handled  if  the  local  unit  were  not  so  small. 

All  things  considered  the  general  intellectual  level  of  most  of  the 
communities  in  the  county  is  high.  The  opportunities  for  community 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          35 


gatherings  of  various  sorts,  for  the  discussion  of  community  concerns 
and  for  various  forms  of  community  activities  are  more  than  usually 
numerous,  which  augurs  very  well  for  the  future.  Moral  conditions  are 
in  the  main  good;  at  least,  there  is  nothing  of  special  moment  to  report. 
Prior  to  January  1,  1916,  when  the  State-wide  prohibition  law  went  into 
effect,  the  county  had  one  wet  and  several  damp  towns.  A  considerable 
amount  of  drinking  was  reported  from  some  sections,  but  conditions  in 
this  respect  have  been  for  sometime  improving  and  were  not  serious. 
Oregon  has  a  very  blue  Sunday  law  which  has  been  on  the  statute  books 
for  many  years.  Beginning  last  fall  an  effort  was  made  in  some  sections 
to  enforce  this  in  a  thorough-going  fashion.  The  permanent  value  of 
efforts  in  this  direction  is  somewhat  to  be  doubted.  There  have  been 
a  good  many  public  gatherings  of  various  sorts  on  Sunday  and  a 
considerable  use  made  of  the  day  for  recreation. 

There  is  very  little  resembling  social  caste  in  the  county.  The 
various  foreign  groups  are  in  the  main  of  one  economic  and  social  level 
and  tend  to  be  somewhat  clannish,  although  the  young  people  are 
breaking  away  from  the  customs  of  their  elders.  In  the  larger  towns, 
particularly  where  there  is  any  special  lumbering  industry,  the  society 
is  very  clearly  composite,  but  this  is  not  true  to  any  special  extent  in 
the  country.  In  most  sections  of  the  county,  where  circumstances  are 
at  all  favorable,  there  is  an  emerging  social  consciousness.  Of  course 
it  is  hard  for  such  a  consciousness  to  develop  where  the  population  is 
too  composite  or  the  future  too  uncertain,  but  such  names  as  Pleasant 
Hill,  Santa  Clara,  Willakenzie,  Bailey  Hill  and  others  connote  a 
definitely  understood  arid  definitely  felt  community.  The  most  interest- 
ing community  in  the  county  in  many  respects  is  Pleasant  Hill,  which 
will  be  separately  discussed  in  the  following  chapter. 

CHAPTER  5— PLEASANT  HILL 

The  most  clearly  defined,  and  in  many  respects  the  most  interesting 
open-country  community  in  Lane  County,  has  its  center  on  Pleasant  Hill, 
twelve  miles  southeast  of  Eugene,  between  the  Coast  Fork  and  the 
Middle  Fork  of  the  Willamette.  Here  the  five  neighborhoods  of  Eden- 
vale,  Coastfork,  Enterprise,  Trent  and  Pleasant  Hill  join  in  supporting 
the  oldest  open-country  high  school  in  Oregon. 

Earlier  histories  of  Lane  County  speak  of  the  village  of  Pleasant 
Hill.  There  never  was  such  a  village.  There  is  no  feeling  of  diversity 
of  interests  between  the  people  at  the  center  of  trade  and  those  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  high  school  district.  The  store,  the  new  blacksmith  shop, 
the  district  school,  the  church,  the  hall,  the  cemetery  and  the  high  school 
border  the  road  at  dignified  distances  which  make  it  clear  that  here  is 
no  thought  of  an  organized  town.  Until  recently  the  store  was  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  blacksmith  shop. 

The  Pleasant  Hill  neighborhood  grew  up  about  the  farm  of  Elijah 
Bristow,  first  settler  in  Lane  County.  Bristow,  a  veteran  of  the  War  of 


36 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


MAP    SHOWING    LOCATION    AND    EXTENT    OF    PLEASANT    HILL 

COMMUNITY 

1812,  sturdy  pioneer,  member  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  father  of 
fifteen,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  came  to  California  in  1845  as  an 
emigrant  from  Illinois.  In  1846,  he  came  to  Oregon  and  in  1848  took 
a  donation  land  claim,  built  the  first  house  in  Lane  County  and  later 
asked  the  Legislature  for  permission  to  name  his  farm  Pleasant  Hill. 

Bristow  and  his  family  entered  upon  this  fertile  land  and  possessed 
it  with  a  thoroughness  which  must  be  considered  the  most  significant 
factor  in  establishing  the  unity  of  the  Pleasant  Hill  community.  They 
initiated  and  for  many  years  controlled  the  religious  and  educational 
activities  of  the  community. 

For  more  than  fifty  years,  the  center  of  the  Pleasant  Hill  com- 
munity remained  where  Bristow  made  the  first  settlement.  The  stones 
of  the  chimney  of  his  house  are  now  preserved  in  a  memorial  watering 
trough  in  front  of  the  postoffice,  only  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the 
site  of  the  original  building.  In  the  spring  of  1910,  when  the  site  of 
the  union  high  school  was  definitely  fixed,  the  real  center  of  the  district 
may  be  said  to  have  moved  somewhat. 

The  high  school  was  established  in  1907.  When  the  proposition  was 
made  by  the  County  Superintendent  and  some  members  of  the  faculty 
of  the  University  of  Oregon,  to  organize  the  first  open-country  high 
school  in  Oregon,  the  five  districts  comprising  the  neighborhoods  of 
Edenvale,  Trent,  Coastfork,  Enterprise  and  Pleasant  Hill,  voted  without 
any  serious  opposition  to  make  the  experiment. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          37 

Union  High  School  Number  One  is  the  strongest  force  now  operating 
to  hold  the  Pleasant  Hill  community  together.  It  was  established  just 
in  time.  Otherwise,  the  community  would  even  now  be  breaking  up, 
following  a  tendency  toward  disintegration  that  becomes  more  noticeable 
as  the  farms  fill  up  with  people  who  knew  not  Elijah  and  who  owe  no 
allegiance  to  the  Christian  Church.  From  the  first  the  high  school  has 
offered  four  years  of  work.  For  six  years  it  has  graduated  at  least 
seven  students  annually.  The  high  school  holds  within  its  student  body 
practically  the  entire  high  school  population  of  the  district,  some  forty 
young  men  and  women. 

Nothing  but  the  high  school  could  have  preserved  the  integrity  of 
the  community  against  the  influence  of  the  small  towns  by  which  it  is 
surrounded.  Each  of  these  towns  has  a  logical  claim  to  some  part 
of  the  Pleasant  Hill  territory,  but  not  one  of  them  can  at  present 
effectively  enforce  its  claim,  because  not  one  of  them  can  offer  to  the 
country  people  any  social  or  educational  advantages  superior  to  those 
at  present  available  in  the  open  country. 

Goshen,  geographically  an  ideal  grange  and  trade  center,  ought 
naturally  to  serve  the  Coastfork  neighborhood.  There  is  a  good  level 
road  from  Coastfork  to  Goshen.  Goshen  is  on  the  railroad  and  the 
Pacific  Highway.  Yet  the  people  of  Coastfork  look  up  toward  the  Hill. 
What  is  more,  the  young  people  of  Goshen  itself  find  their  best  high 
school  opportunities  on  Pleasant  Hill.  Here  we  have  the  phenomenon 
of  children  leaving  town  and  railroad  to  go  to  high  school  in  the  country, 
a  phenomenon  easily  understood  when  we  realize  how  completely  Goshen 
has  failed  to  live  up  to  its  possibilities. 

Jasper,  long  connected  with  Edenvale  by  ford  and  ferry,  now  has 
a  bridge.  Jasper  is  on  the  Oakridge  railroad  and  has  some  advantages 
in  price-making  which  the  thrifty  farmers  of  Edenvale  are  quick  to 
appreciate.  But  the  same  bridge  which  carries  some  trade  across  to 
Jasper,  makes  access  more  easy  from  Jasper  to  the  union  high  school 
and  another  small  town  becomes  tributary  to  the  educational  center 
in  the  open  country.  Jasper  is  something  of  a  center  for  the  young 
people  who  like  to  dance.  A  public  dance  is  a  thing  unheard  of  on  the 
Hill.  The  Christian  Church  at  Jasper  has  been  making  some  effort 
to  serve  people  of  all  denominations. 

Dexter,  being  off  the  railroad  and  upstream,  is  the  least  formidable 
rival  of  Pleasant  Hill. 

Much  of  the  high  school  district  is  served  by  rural  free  delivery 
from  Creswell.  This  well  established  country  town  would  have  become 
the  high  school  town  for  much  of  the  present  union  district  had  not  the 
country  high  school  been  established. 

The  church  at  Pleasant  Hill  is  not  a  unifying  influence  except  with 
people  of  its  denomination.  The  oldest  church  in  the  county,  with  a  fine 
new  building,  it  serves  a  comparatively  small  number  of  people  and 
renders  this  service  without  a  resident  pastor.  The  preaching  is  usually 
done  by  a  student  from  the  Bible  University  at  Eugene. 


33          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


TYPICAL    LANE    COUNTY    CHURCH    BUILDINGS 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          39 

A  resident  pastor  of  the  right  type  would  probably  supply  the  one 
influence  necessary  to  make  the  rural  community  of  Pleasant  Hill  proof 
against  the  disintegrating  influences  which  may  radiate  from  Jasper 
and  Goshen.  There  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Methodist 
Church  at  Trent  or  the  Church  of  God  at  Enterprise  will  become  a 
community  church  in  the  near  future. 

The  annual  picnic  at  Pleasant  Hill  is  the  biggest  gathering  of  its 
kind  in  the  county.  The  neighborhood  has  much  subconscious  respect 
for  its  traditions  and  some  consciousness  of  the  significance  of  being 
the  eldest  of  Lane  County  communities.  This  feeling  is  particularly  in 
evidence  on  picnic  day.  The  several  organizations,  high  school,  Sunday 
School  and  choir,  do  not  cooperate  in  managing  the  picnic — they  take 
turns. 

Pleasant  Hill  has  no  grange.  Its  people  are  by  no  means  fully  con- 
verted to  the  gospel  of  scientific  farming.  Most  of  them,  however,  care 
enough  for  their  farms  to  hold  onto  them.  Today,  as  in  the  early  days, 
most  of  the  farms  on  the  Hill  are  homes  and  the  dwellers  look  to  the 
soil  rather  than  to  speculation  for  their  living. 

This  comparative  stability  of  population,  together  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  high  school,  has  thus  far  preserved  the  integrity  of  the 
Pleasant  Hill  community,  in  the  face  of  seemingly  adverse  geographical 
and  economic  conditions. 

The  people  have  many  of  the  lessons  of  cooperation  yet  to  learn,  but 
from  all  present  indications,  they  stand  a  better  chance  of  learning  these 
lessons  in  the  open  country,  than  under  the  tutelage  of  any  of  the 

neighboring  towns. 

• 

PART    III 
RELIGIOUS  LIFE  AND  INSTITUTIONS 

BY  H.  N.  MORSE 

CHAPTER   1— GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 
RELIGIOUS   SITUATION 

There  are  two  sides  to  the  problem  of  the  working  efficiency  of 
the  church  in  a  territory  such  as  we  are  here  discussing.  On  the  one 
hand  we  face  the  larger  problem  of  missionary  statesmanship,  which 
concerns  the  general  mapping  out  and  development  of  the  field  as  a 
whole;  and  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  problem  of  the  development 
and  administration  of  the  local  church.  The  former  is  the  primary 
problem  which  must  be  in  the  process  of  an  adequate  solution  before  the 
way  will  be  at  all  opened  for  the  solution  of  the  other.  Various  aspects 
of  the  larger  problem  will  concern  us  at  one  stage  or  another  of  our 
discussion.  It  involves  such  a  question  as  the  economic  resources  and 
future  of  a  community,  since  it  is  useless  to  establish  a  church  where 
there  are  not  and  will  not  be  sufficient  economic  resources  to  support  it, 
unless  we  are  prepared  to  maintain  it  as  a  missionary  undertaking; 
also  the  question  of  the  natural  community  outlines,  since,  as  previously 


40          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

discussed,  it  is  futile  to  expect  any  social  institution  to  maintain  itself 
where  it  is  not,  and  cannot  be  made  the  center  of  a  community  of 
sufficient  population;  and  finally  the  whole  question  of  the  inter- 
relation of  all  the  various  religious  establishments,  a  problem  of  inter- 
denominational polity.  The  problem  of  local  development  raises  the 
questions  of  physical  equipment,  working  force,  finance,  general  program 
of  work  and  similar  matters.  The  discussion  of  this  section  will  keep 
both  of  these  problems  in  view,  but  the  larger  problem  of  missionary 
statesmanship  is  an  important  problem,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  immense 
waste  of  energy  involved  in  our  present  methods  of  developing  religious 
work.  The  task  of  evangelizing  a  new  and  growing  country  must  always 
contain  a  margin  of  uncertainty.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  determine 
the  future  of  a  given  locality  nor  the  lines  that  its  development  will 
take,  but  this  margin  of  uncertainty  should  be  and  can  be  very  greatly 
reduced.  The  history  of  the  religious  life  of  Lane  County  shows  many 
exceptionally  poor  guesses  in  the  establishing  of  churches.  Practically 
one  out  of  every  five  churches  established  has  for  one  reason  or  another 
been  allowed  to  lapse,  while  many  of  those  which  still  have  the  name 
to  live  are  without  any  clear  hope  for  future  strength.  All  told  there 
are  twenty-four  dead  and  abandoned  churches  whose  traces  are  still 
visible  in  the  county.  This  is  an  astonishing  number  when  one  con- 
siders how  recent  much  of  the  development  of  the  county  is.  Thirteen 
of  these  twenty-four  abandoned  churches  were  established  as  competing 
churches  in  territories  where  the  resources,  either  present  or  future, 
did  not  permit  of  this  division  of  the  religious  interests.  The  other 
eleven  died  because  they  were  very  poorly  placed. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  discuss  at  some  length  the  composite  social 
and  economic  character  of  the  county.  We  pointed  out  that  there  are 
a  number  of  distinct  types  of  communities  in  the  county.  The  general 
type  of  the  religious  problem  may  be  here  briefly  summarized  for  each 
of  these  types  of  communities.  The  first  type  which  we  mentioned  was 
the  small  and  scattered  group  in  some  isolated  section  where  there  are 
serious  physical  barriers  to  development  and  where  the  resources  are 
very  meager.  Religious  work  in  such  communities  offers  three  possi- 
bilities. Where  they  are  near  enough  to  some  more  fortunately  located 
community  it  is  often  possible  for  a  pastor  residing  in  such  a  community 
to  give  to  the  more  isolated  locality  at  least  a  modicum  of  pastoral  care. 
Where  this  is  not  possible  some  work  may  be  carried  on  under  the 
supervision  and  direction  of  some  denominational  missionary  at  large. 
There  are  a  number  of  such  men  who  have  Lane  County  in  the  territory 
which  they  cover.  Failing  in  either  of  these  two  possibilities,  or  as 
an  adjunct  to  either  of  them,  a  Sunday  School  may  be  maintained 
under  local  lay  leadership.  This  is  the  only  form  of  religious  work 
in  a  considerable  number  of  communities.  There  are  probably  close 
to  2,800  people  living  under  such  circumstances  in  Lane  County.  They 
form  an  element  in  the  population  which  should  not  be  religiously 
neglected.  Most  denominations  have  some  kind  of  machinery  which 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          41 

contemplates  such  situations.  The  need  seems  to  be  for  a  better  organi- 
zation and  correlation  of  such  work,  as  between  denominations.  Its 
present  character  is  rather  haphazard.  An  unfortunate  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  its  development  is  found  in  the  transitory  and,  in  the  main, 
demoralizing  efforts  of  a  certain  type  of  itinerant,  irresponsible  evan- 
gelist, who  coming  into  a  community  where  some  measure  of  religious 
work  has  been  carried  on,  but  where  its  establishment  is  none  too  secure, 
can  by  a  month's  tent  meetings  thoroughly  disrupt  and  demoralize  all 
that  has  been  accomplished  and  depart  leaving  nothing  whatever 
permanent  in  its  place. 

The  community  which  is  promising,  reasonably  accessible  with 
adequate  resources  for  the  support  of  a  considerable  population  but  as 
yet  undeveloped  offers  a  problem  essentially  different,  although  in  its 
immediate  aspect  it  may  be  somewhat  the  same  as  the  foregoing.  The 
habit  has  been  to  treat  communities  of  this  kind  with  no  especial  refer- 
ence to  their  possibilities  of  future  development.  The  obviously  wise 
course  would  be  to  foster  the  maintenance  of  adequate  religious  work 
both  by  supplementing  local  resources  with  denominational  funds  where 
necessary  and  by  discouraging  any  division  of  religious  forces.  In 
this  way  such  communities  would  have  the  opportunity  to  develop  under 
religious  influences.  Unfortunately  the  general  policy  is  to  give  such 
communities  the  minimum  of  religious  service  and  to  permit  division 
on  denominational  lines  apparently  more  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
a  denominational  claim  against  the  time  when  the  community  will  have 
developed  strength  than  from  any  hope  of  accomplishing  results  of 
immediate  value  to  the  community.  In  point  of  fact  such  a  policy 
condemns  the  religious  work  in  a  community  of  this  sort  to  a  perpetual 
futility.  The  communities  which  are  now  in  the  period  of  transition, 
as  from  the  dependence  upon  lumber  to  the  development  of  the  agricul- 
tural resources,  belong  with  either  one  or  the  other  of  these  two 
religious  groups.  Where  the  possibilities  in  the  way  of  agricultural 
development  are  clearly  apparent,  the  problems  should  be  handled  as 
in  the  promising  communities,  where  their  prospects  seem  meager  they 
should  be  classed  with  the  first  group  mentioned. 

The  lumber  mill  communities  of  the  smaller  sort  present  one  of  the 
most  difficult  of  church  problems,  for  the  reasons  which,  as  we  sug- 
gested in  a  previous  chapter,  make  them  difficult  from  every  social 
point  of  view.  No  effective  work  is  now  being  maintained  in  any  such 
communities  in  the  county. 

In  the  permanently  established  and  fairly  mature  farming  com- 
munities and  in  the  rural  villages  church  work  should  be  the  most  stable, 
well  developed  and  successful,  for  here  the  population  is  relatively 
permanent,  the  resources  are  determinable,  and  there  are  developed 
social  institutions  and  many  influences  which  work  for  community 
cooperation  and  compactness.  A  serious  doubt  should  be  raised  regard- 
ing the  advisability  of  maintaining  here  any  work  which  cannot  be 
brought  under  a  proper  policy  of  promotion  to  full  self-support.  Of 


42 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


F 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          43 

course  the  same  holds  good  for  the  two  larger  towns  of  the  county 
which  we  are  considering.  They  will  never  be  cities  and  it  is  time  now 
that  the  religious  work  should  be  organized  and  maintained  on  a  basis 
commensurate  with  their  needs  and  resources.  The  last  type  of  com- 
munity which  we  mentioned,  namely,  those  communities  which  have 
outlived  their  usefulness,  are  in  almost  the  same  category  from  an 
administrative  point  of  view,  as  the  first  type  of  community.  They 
have  no  future  and  while  they  should  have  a  measure  of  religious 
service  and  pastoral  care,  this  must  be  undertaken  as  a  missionary 
concern.  In  all  these  communities  the  task  of  church  reorganization 
and  promotion  should  be  preceded  by  careful  examination  of  those 
questions  which  were  raised  at  the  opening  of  the  chapter.  To  attempt 
to  exploit  a  district  beyond  its  resources,  whether  for  religious  or  other 
purposes,  or  to  attempt  to  establish  and  foster  institutions  which  prevent 
or  check  the  process  of  solidifying  and  centering  community  feeling  and 
action,  making  that  community  feeling  articulate  and  purposeful,  is 
expensive  and  short-sighted  folly.  If  all  the  churches  now  established 
could  by  any  means  be  developed  to  a  point  of  maximum  equipment 
and  if  by  any  means  they  could  receive  a  sufficient  measure  of  local 
support  to  make  them  independent  of  denominational  aid,  the  result 
would  be  nothing  less  than  disastrous  to  the  county,  and  if  in  addition 
to  this  the  effort  might  still  be  made  to  maintain  those  churches  which 
have  already  died,  the  case  would  be  still  worse.  These  problems 
underlie  the  whole  religious  situation  of  the  county. 

CHAPTER  2— THE  NUMBER  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CHURCHES 

The  churches  of  Eugene  have  been  omitted  from  the  discussions  of 
this  entire  section.  Outside  of  Eugene  there  are  one  hundred  and  twelve 
churches,  missions,  or  definitely  established  preaching  stations  in  the 
county,  including  in  that  number  only  those  which  are,  at  least  nominally, 
living.  They  are  of  twenty  varieties,  as  indicated  in  the  appended  table. 
The  figures  after  the  various  denominational  names  refer  not  to  organized 
parishes  only,  but  to  the  total  number  of  organizations  and  of  definite 
preaching  points: 

Denomination —  No,  of  Points 

Disciples  of  Christ  25 

Methodist    Episcopal 22 

Presbyterian 16 

Baptist    11 

United    Evangelical - 8 

Danish   Lutheran    5 

Free  Methodist  5 

Methodist   Episcopal   South   3 

Seventh  Day  Adventist  3 

Apostolic   Faith   Assembly   2 

Christian   Science 2 

Roman   Catholic   2 

United    Brethren    

Gorman    Lutheran 

Primitive  Baptist 

Norwegian  Lutheran  

Brethren 

Church    of    God - 

Church  of  Christ   

Undenominational     . 1 


44          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


Of  this  number  the  seven  churches  belonging  to  the  Seventh  Day 
Adventist,  the  Christian  Science  and  Roman  Catholic  denominations 
will  not  be  further  considered  in  the  discussions  of  this  section.  That 
leaves  one  hundred  and  five  Protestant  churches,  missions  and  preaching 
points  as  the  basis  of  our  discussions. 

Of  these  one  hundred  and  five  churches,  twenty-two  are  in  the  five 
larger  towns  of  the  county,  twelve  are  in  various  villages,  and  seventy-one 
in  the  small  hamlets  and  open  country.  We  may  note  something  of  the 
tendency  toward  centralization  in  location.  This  is  in  a  measure  a 
process  of  natural  selection,  but  it  is  the  habit  of  all  denominations 
to  seek  to  make  the  village  the  base  of  work.  This  is  a  policy  which 
may  be  very  desirable  or  very  undesirable.  Where  a  village  and  certain 
units  of  adjacent  country  territory  in  which  a  given  denomination  is 
well  established  can  be  made  into  a  reasonably  compact  and  logical 
parish  on  community  lines,  the  establishing  of  a  main  base  in  the  village 
is  not  only  a  permissible,  but  a  highly  desirable  policy.  This,  however, 
is  not  a  description  of  most  parishes  which  combine  village  and  country 
points  and  the  policy  of  most  denominations  seems  to  be  to  establish 
a  church  in  a  town  on  the  supposition  that  the  town  will  become  a 
larger  town  and  while  waiting,  to  help  support  it  by  attaching  to  it 
certain  country  appointments. 

The  one  hundred  and  five  churches  may  be  divided  according  to  the 
type  of  community  in  which  they  are  located,  following  the  classification 
of  communities  which  we  have  already  used.  In  the  isolated  communities 
are  five  preaching  points;  in  the  promising,  but  undeveloped  communities, 
are  fifteen;  in  the  small  lumber  towns  are  six;  in  those  communities 
which  are  now  in  the  period  of  transition  there  are  thirteen;  in  the 
relatively  mature  farming  sections  are  thirty-five;  in  the  larger  rural 
villages  twelve;  in  the  towns  with  some  developed  local  industry  are 
twelve,  and  in  those  communities  which  have  practically  outlived  their 
usefulness  are  seven.  The  churches  may  be  further  analyzed  according 
to  the  type  of  population  which  they  serve.  Nineteen  serve  a  type  of 
population  primarily  industrial  in  character;  sixty-eight  serve  a 
population  primarily  agricultural,  while  eighteen  serve  a  population 
whose  economic  character  is  varied  or  uncertain. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  five  points,  thirty-two  are  separately 
organized  churches;  sixty-three  are  organized  on  the  parish  plan,  twenty- 
four  parishes  being  included,  making  fifty-six  distinct  organizations, 
including,  all  told,  ninety-five  points;  ten  are  without  local  organization. 

The  question  of  the  proximity  of  two  or  more  churches  in  a  single 
community  will  prove  to  be  one  of  considerable  importance.  We  may 
note  briefly  at  this  point  that  fifty-seven  of  the  one  hundred  and  five 
churches  are  at  present  maintained  without  the  competition  of  other 
organizations  in  exclusive  fields;  seven  of  these  have  at  some  time  past 
had  competition,  but  are  without  it  now  by  the  grace  of  the  death  of 
the  competitor.  Forty-eight  of  these  fifty-seven  are  definitely  organized, 
either  as  individual  points,  or  in  parishes.  This  leaves  forty-eight 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          45 

churches  which  have  competition,  forty-seven  of  these  being  definitely 
organized  and  established.  The  problem  of  these  churches  is  perhaps 
least  serious  in  the  larger  towns,  although  this  is  by  no  means  self- 
evident,  but  it  is  serious  enough  in  every  instance,  as  will  be  pointed 
out  more  in  detail  at  another  point. 

Interesting  confirmation  of  the  fact  that  much  of  the  county  develop- 
ment is  of  a  recent  character  is  furnished  by  an  analysis  of  these 
one  hundred  and  five  churches.  Forty-nine  of  them  have  been  established 
within  the  last  ten  years,  five  of  them  during  the  last  year.  Several 
other  churches  were  established  within  ten  years,  but  they  were  still-born. 
That  leaves  fifty-six  churches  which  are  ten  years  or  more  of  age. 
It  is  encouraging  to  note  that  we  are  making  some  little  progress  in 
the  matter  of  establishing  competing  churches.  Of  the  fifty-six  churches 
which  are  over  ten  years  old,  thirty-three  are  in  divided  fields,  twenty- 
three  have  exclusive  fields.  Of  the  forty-nine  which  are  less  than 
ten  years  old,  thirty-four  have  exclusive  fields  and  fifteen  have  divided 
fields.  There  is,  however,  food  for  thought  in  the  fact  that  seventeen 
churches,  fifteen  now  living,  two  dead,  have  been  organized  within 
the  last  ten  years  in  preempted  fields.  These  were  without  opposition 
organized  as  competing  churches,  they  were  without  exception  wholly 
unneeded,  and  they  have  without  exception  injured  the  religious  work 
in  their  respective  communities. 

CHAPTER  3— MATERIAL  EQUIPMENT  AND  FINANCE 

Sixty-three  of  the  one  hundred  and  five  churches  have  the  use  of  a 
church  building,  in  three  cases  sharing  that  building  with  some  other 
existing  denomination.  There  are,  therefore,  sixty-three  church  buildings 
now  being  used  by  these  churches.  Thirty-three  churches  are  public 
school  buildings  and  six  use  public  halls.  The  sixty-three  buildings 
have  a  total  valuation  of  $140,225.00,  $70,900.00  of  this  investment  being 
in  the  four  larger  towns.  The  maximum  valuation  for  town  churches 
is  $12,000.00;  for  the  remainder  of  the  county,  $4,500.00.  The  greater 
proportion  of  the  buildings  do  not  exceed  $1,500.00  in  value.  Eleven 
organizations  have  some  church  debt,  the  total  amount  being  about 
$7,000.00.  Part  of  this  debt  is  to  various  denominational  societies,  such 
as  Boards  of  Church  Erection.  Debts  of  this  sort  are  not  usually  taken 
very  seriously.  A  fair  proportion  of  the  indebtedness,  however,  is  to 
private  individuals  or  corporations,  and  on  this  the  prevailing  rate  of 
interest  is  8  per  cent. 

Twenty-one  of  these  sixty-three  buildings  have  been  erected  within 
the  last  ten  years.  There  are  a  number  of  abandoned  buildings  which 
are  now  not  used  for  any  purpose,  and  several  others  that  have  been 
turned  to  secular  uses,  at  least  one  having  been  made  over  into  a  dance 
hall.  All  of  the  buildings  are  frame.  Their  total  seating  capacity  is 
11,990.  The  average  building  has  a  seating  capacity  in  its  main 
auditorium  of  about  150,  frequently  having  one  or  more  Sunday  School 


46          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

The  Effects  of 

Good  Business  Methods 
upon 

<2Hurch  Finances. 


Average  Annual  Gifis 
per  Member 

(^Kutrkes  witK  finances  well  organized 

#10.92 


witK  finances  poorly  organized 


fOJ55  #7.526 

for  benevolences.        I I  4ror 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          47 

rooms  which  can  be  thrown  open  for  crowds  exceeding  that  number. 
Twenty-nine,  or  not  quite  half  of  the  buildings,  are  maintained  in  good 
condition,  twenty-three  are  in  only  fair  condition,  while  eleven  are  in 
a  very  poor  condition.  Forty-one  of  the  whole  number  are  of  the 
one-cell  type,  with  little  utility  and  less  beauty;  four  have  two  rooms; 
thirteen  have  three  to  five  rooms,  and  five  have  six  or  more.  Seventeen 
have  horsesheds  in  connection ;  forty-six  have  not.  A  number  of  churches 
which  have  had  horsesheds  in  the  past  have  torn  them  down  within 
recent  years  and  in  several  instances  reported  that  this  has  seriously 
interfered  with  the  attendance  of  those  living  at  a  distance. 

The  financial  methods  employed  show  all  the  usual  variations  from 
systematic  efficiency  to  disorganized  futility.  Fifteen  churches  only 
use  the  budget  system  of  financing  their  work;  five  or  six  include  in 
their  annual  budget  their  contributions  to  benevolent  causes.  Nineteen 
churches  use  some  form  of  weekly  envelope,  five  using  duplex  envelopes. 
Only  fourteen  churches  all  told  can  be  said  to  have  their  finances  well 
organized.  Twenty-two  of  the  whole  number  of  churches  reported  that 
they  are  able  to  meet  their  denominational  assessments  of  various  kinds, 
while  only  forty-four  of  the  churches  are  able  to  meet  all  of  their  other 
obligations.  This  is  not  quite  so  bad  as  it  sounds,  since  a  number  of 
the  remaining  sixty-one  assume  no  definite  financial  obligations.  Ninety- 
six  churches  reported  that  they  had  difficulty  in  raising  the  necessary 
funds,  leaving  nine  that  consider  themselves  able  to  finance  their  work 
without  special  difficulty.  The  budget  locally  raised  is  supplemented 
by  some  missionary  aid  in  eighteen  parishes,  comprising,  all  told, 
forty-seven  points.  The  total  amount  of  aid  received  is  $3,390.00  a  year. 
Of  this  amount  $2,185.00  is  given  to  churches  which  are  located  in 
communities  having  more  than  one  church. 

The  total  amount  of  the  budget  raised  on  the  field  last  year  was 
$46,041.00.  Of  this  amount  $18,107.00  was  for  salaries;  $15,172.00  for 
benevolences,  and  the  remainder  for  contingent  expenses.  The  amount 
raised  for  benevolences  includes  one  contribution  of  $12,000.00  to  the 
annual  conference  investments  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for 
conference  claimants.  This  one  contribution  came  through  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  Springfield  and  is  included  in  these  totals  to  make 
the  report  complete.  Since,  however,  one  large  gift  of  that  kind  cannot 
be  considered  in  any  sense  typical,  it  will  be  omitted  in  figuring  the 
variations  in  the  average  contributions  according  to  financial  methods. 
Its  omission  leaves  a  total  for  benevolences  of  $3,172.00,  and  a  grand 
total  of  $34,041.00.  This  total  is  an  average  of  83  cents  a  year  for 
benevolences  and  $8.86  for  all  purposes  per  .resident  active  member. 
These  averages  indicate  the  meagerness  of  the  support  which  many 
churches  have  been  able  to  command.  They  indicate  also  the  difficulty 
of  raising  money  without  the  application  of  system,  as  may  further 
be  seen  from  the  following  comparison.  In  those  churches  which  used 
the  budget  system  and  which  had  a  systematic  method  of  raising  money 
for  their  benevolent  contributions  the  average  amount  raised  per  member 


48 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


Variations 

in  Membership  of  all 
Organized  Churches 

°/o  of  <2hurches  having"  a  Membership  of 


78%  of  the  (Shurches  have  a  net 
Membership  of  50  or  less. 


(3otL7i£t/, 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          49 

for  benevolences  last  year  was  $1.35,  and  for  the  total  expenses,  $10.92. 
The  averages  in  all  the  remaining  churches  were  55  cents  per  member 
for  benevolences  and  $7.81  per  member  for  all  purposes.  That  is  to  say, 
systematic  methods  have  increased  benevolent  contributions  145  per  cent 
and  general  contributions  40  per  cent.  The  $12,000.00  contribution 
above  referred  to  came  through  one  of  these  well  organized  churches, 
but  that  amount  was  not  figured  in  these  averages. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  the  financial 
problem  cannot  be  made  the  first  thing  to  receive  stress  in  the  reorganiz- 
ing of  religious  work.  While  a  well  organized  financial  system  will 
undoubtedly  increase  contributions,  it  is  useless  in  the  long  run  to 
expect  people  to  give  more  to  any  institution  than  the  service  which 
that  institution  renders  is  worth.  It  is  evident  that  most  communities 
in  the  county  now  do  actually  give  as  much  as  they  get,  little  though 
that  may  be.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  only  fair  to  state  that  the  advance 
in  church  work  has  been  halting  in  part  because  the  economic  development 
of  the  county  has  been  neither  rapid  nor  uniform.  As  concerns  the 
income  of  most  of  its  population,  the  county  has  not  been  and  is  not 
now  well-to-do.  It  is  neither  possible  nor  desirable  to  mortgage  the 
economic  resources  of  any  territory  for  the  permanent  support  of  its 
social  institutions. 

CHAPTER   4— MEMBERSHIP 

The  total  net  membership  regularly  attached  to  the  local  churches 
and  reasonably  active  therein  is  3,814.  Around  certain  unorganized 
points  there  is  some  little  local  following  and  scattered  through  the 
county  are  numbers  of  people  who  have  membership  in  other  than  local 
churches.  It  is  impossible  to  count  the  number  in  either  of  these  classes, 
but  their  presence  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  computing  the  total 
strength  of  the  religious  forces  of  the  county.  Of  the  3,814  members 
which  we  are  considering,  1,706  reside  in  the  towns  and  larger  villages, 
2,108  in  the  hamlets  and  open  country.  Thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  total 
membership  are  males.  The  proportion  of  males  in  the  church  member- 
ship is  least  where  their  proportion  in  the  total  population  is  highest; 
namely,  in  the  lumbering  districts. 

A  study  of  the  variations  in  the  size  of  the  local  churches  affords 
some  illuminating  conclusions.  For  this  purpose  we  may  take  ninety 
organized  points,  eliminating  the  ten  unorganized  points  and  five  points 
which  are  included  in  the  larger  parish  organizations,  where  the  local 
organization  can  not  be  segregated  from  the  total.  In  each  of  these 
fifteen  cases  the  total  number  of  the  local  following  is  not  great,  in 
most  instances  being  quite  inconsiderable. 

Net  Membership —  No.  of  Churches 

10  or   less  19 

11  to   20   20 

21    to    50   ....  31 

51    to   100    8 

100  and  over  ...  12 


50          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  Winning  of  the  West 

After  54yeans 
of  organised  Ghtirch  work 

13.1% 

of  the  total 


are 

Members  of  the  Local  Churches 


Non-ehtirckMe/nbers-  86.9% 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          51 

It  will  be  seen  that  43.3  per  cent  of  these  churches  have  each  twenty 
members  or  less,  while  77.3  per  cent  have  each  fifty  members  or  less. 
Only  13.3  per  cent  have  more  than  one  hundred  members  each.  Prac- 
tically every  rural  church  survey  which  has  been  made  has  shown  the 
inefficiency  of  the  small  church,  particularly  of  the  small  church  which 
is  small  because  the  religious  forces  of  its  community  are  divided. 
Another  table  may  be  appended  here  to  show  the  degree  of  evangelistic 
success  with  which  the  work  of  the  church  has  met  so  far.  This  table 
shows  the  percentage  of  the  population  in  each  of  the  main  topographic 
divisions  which  is  enrolled  in  the  membership  of  the  local  churches.  The 
region  around  Eugene  and  Springfield  is  not  figured  separately,  because 
the  membership  of  Eugene  churches  residing  in  neighboring  communities 
could  not  be  segregated.  These  figures  take  account  only  of  that  popula- 
tion which  is  available  to  establish  churches.  It  takes  no  account  of 
remote  population  and  also  takes  no  account  of  those  people  who  may 
have  their  membership  in  remote  churches.  The  topographic  divisions 
here  designated  briefly  by  name  are  the  same  as  those  discussed  more 
at  length  in  the  discussion  of  population: 

Per  Cent  of  Available  Population 
Topographic  Division —  Enrolled  in  Church  Membership 

Siuslaw  Valley  and  Vicinity  10.0  per  cent 

McKenzie    Valley 7.3   per  cent 

Mohawk    Valley 10.0  per  cent 

Row  River  Valley 4.2   per  cent 

Middle  Fork  Valley  18.4  per  cent 

North   of   Eugene 25.6  per  cent 

South   of   Eugene   22.2  per  cent 

West  and  Southwest  of  Eugene  13.7  per  cent 

Entire  County,  exclusive  of  Eugene  13.1  per  cent 

These  percentages  are  very  low,  even  in  the  sections  where  the  best 
record  has  been  made.  They  suggest  certain  points.  It  is  clear  that  the 
traditions  of  most  of  the  communities  in  the  county  have  not  been 
religious  traditions.  It  is  clear  that  the  type  of  church  work  which 
has  been  carried  on  has  not  been  such  as  to  stamp  religious  character 
on  the  face  of  these  communities.  It  is  clear  that  the  churches  have 
failed  to  mature  institutions  able  to  assimilate  the  diverse  strains  of 
which  the  society  is  composed,  especially  in  view  of  the  shifting  character 
of  the  population  in  many  sections.  It  is  clear  also  that  the  churches 
have  failed  to  comprehend  the  missionary  statesmanship  necessary  to 
lay  out  their  task  adequately.  The  best  showing  is  made  in  the  more 
mature  and  thickly  settled  communities.  This  is  to  be  expected  and 
it  is  only  fair  to  add  that  church  work  in  the  remainder  of  the  county 
has  been  beset  with  many  difficulties. 

CHAPTER  5— GAIN  AND  LOSS 

The  total  gain  of  all  churches  during  the  last  year  was  six  hundred 
and  ninety-one,  and  their  total  loss  was  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine, 
leaving  a  net  gain  for  the  year  of  four  hundred  and  twelve,  or  12.1  per 
cent  of  their  previous  strength;  39  per  cent  of  the  total  gain  was  by 


52 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  Evangelistic  Returns 

of  the  years  work 
in  9O  organised  fields 

(rrvu rcke s  witl \  a 

Net  loss 


Even  break 


Less  than  5%  net  gain 


5-10%  net  gain 


More  than  10%  net  gain 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


53 


letter  or  certificate;  61  per  cent  was  by  confession  of  faith.  It  is 
natural  that  in  a  growing  population  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
annual  increase  should  be  by  certificate  from  other  churches.  Rather 
an  unusual  feature  of  the  year's  gain  is  the  fact  that  four  hundred  and 
eighty-one,  or  nearly  70  per  cent  of  the  total,  united  as  a  direct  result 
of  revival  services.  In  the  few  instances  where  there  was  any  con- 
siderable increase  through  the  ordinary  mediums  of  pastoral  work, 
there  was  some  little  disposition  to  claim  a  special  credit  on  the  ground 
that  their  recruits  were  all  "hand  picked."  The  proportion  joining 
as  a  result  of  revivals  is  not  so  much  an  indication  of  the  value  of  the 
revivals  as  of  the  weakness  of  the  other  forms  of  work. 

Another  striking  thing  about  the  results  of  the  year's  work  is  that 
most  of  the  gain  is  attributable  to  a  minority  of  the  churches.  The  net 
result  of  the  year's  work  in  these  ninety  organized  fields  which  we  are 
considering  may  be  indicated  as  follows: 


Churches  showing  a  net  loss  for  the  year  24 

Churches  breaking  even  for  the  year  29 

Churches  with  net  gain  of  less  than  5  per  cent  3 

Churches  with  net  gain  of  from  5  to  10  per  cent  8 

Churches  with  net  gain  of  more  than  10  per  cent  26 

Total    90 

More  than  a  fourth  of  the  churches  ended  the  year  weaker  than  at 
its  beginning,  while  practically  a  third  marked  time  during  the  year. 
Something  less  than  a  third  of  the  total  number  of  churches  made  a 
substantial  gain.  These  are  the  growing  and  the  promising  churches 
and  as  the  work  is  at  present  organized  and  conducted  the  future  belongs 
to  them.  A  single  year's  work,  of  course,  is  not  necessarily  indicative 
of  the  total  prospects  of  any  one  field,  for  the  best  of  fields  are  apt 
to  have  lean  years  and  fat  years.  Taking  the  record  as  far  back 
as  it  could  be  obtained  and  on  the  basis  of  that  record  dividing  the 
churches  according  to  their  general  growth  or  decline,  we  get  the 
following  result: 


Four  Largest  Towns 


Remainder  of  County 


No. 

Churches 
10 
4 
4 


20 


Per  Cent  of 

Total  No. 

50.0 

20.0 

20.0 

10.0 


Increasing   

Stationary   

Declining     

Work     too     recent     to     justify 
..   classification   .. 


100.0 


Total 


Per  Cent  of 

Total  No. 

25.0 

21.1 

47.0 


100.0 


No. 

Churches 
21 
18 
40 


Combining  the  two  groups  of  churches  it  will  be  seen  that  thirty-one 
fields,  or  29.5  per  cent  of  the  whole,  number  may  be  classified  as 
growing  fields;  twenty -two  fields,  or  20.9  per  cent  of  the  whole  number 
may  be  classified  as  stationary  fields,  while  forty-four  fields,  or  41.9 
per  cent  of  the  whole  number  must  be  classified  as  declining  fields, 
leaving  eight  fields  not  included  in  the  above  classification. 


54  RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


A  Record 

of 

IneffcliveEvanfelism 

d 


Declining 


Growing' 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          55 


CHAPTER  6— EFFECTS  OF  COMPETITION  UPON  CHURCH 

EFFICIENCY 

The  question  of  the  overlapping  of  church  fields  is  not  all  one 
problem.  It  will  be  readily  recognized  that  in  the  larger  towns  a 
certain  degree  of  division  of  organization  is  justifiable  and  even  desir- 
able. It  is  possible  in  towns  the  size  of  Cottage  Grove  and  Springfield 
to  maintain  a  number  of  organizations  of  sufficient  size  and  strength 
to  do  excellent  work  and  that  in  such  places  is  the  logical  thing  to  expect. 
The  same  thing  holds  with  less  force  in  towns  like  Creswell  and  Junction 
City.  In  three  of  these  instances,  where  the  large  town  is  definitely 
the  center  both  religiously  and  economically  of  a  larger  community, 
it  is  quite  natural  that  the  town  should  be  made  the  center  of  some 
sort  of  parish  organization  which  would  include  both  the  town  and 
a  country  appointment.  Where  this  sort  of  grouping  is  natural  it  may 
make  for  very  excellent  work.  It  is  also  quite  desirable  that  the  pastor 
of  a  self-supporting  town  church  should  devote  as  much  of  his  time 
as  he  can  spare  from  the  duties  of  his  primary  parish  to  develop  the 
religious  work  in  country  districts  where  there  have  been  no  religious 
opportunities.  That,  however,  is  a  different  question.  What  actually 
happens  is  not  as  logical  or  as  natural  and  desirable  as  the  theory  of  it 
would  lead  one  to  expect,  for  the  tendency  is,  for  various  reasons,  to 
divide  the  religious  forces  of  the  town  beyond  the  point  of  efficiency, 
without  the  justification  of  a  definite  and  natural  parish  grouping.  In 
some  cases  the  reason  seems  to  be  merely  the  desire  of  a  denomination 
to  get  a  footing  in  a  town  which  is  expected  to  grow.  In  some  cases 
it  is  the  desire  of  a  dissenting  group  to  worship  after  their  own  fashion 
without  reference  to  their  obligations  to  build  up  the  religious  life  of 
the  community  as  a  whole.  It  is  perhaps  not  accurate  to  say  that  the 
problem  becomes  more  serious  the  smaller  the  town  concerned,  but 
certainly  it  becomes  more  evident.  As  one  instance  we  may  cite  the 
effects  of  division  upon  the  size  of  the  church  membership.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  a  number  of  churches  in  the  larger  towns  have  a 
membership  of  very  respectable  size,  out  of  forty-eight,  the  total  number 
of  churches  in  the  county  which  are  in  divided  fields,  thirty-five  have 
a  membership  of  less  than  fifty,  seven  of  these  having  less  than  ten 
members  each  and  eleven  others  having  less  than  twenty  members  each. 
Of  course  there  are  non-competitive  churches  with  just  as  small  member- 
ship as  any  of  these  competitive  churches,  but  they  are  largely  in  isolated 
and  undeveloped  sections.  To  maintain  eighteen  competitive  churches 
which  have  less  than  twenty  members  each,  to  say  nothing  of  seventeen 
others  which  have  less  than  fifty  members  each,  seems  to  a  high  degree 
absurd.  We  may  get  at  the  same  thing  by  a  different  kind  of  com- 
parison. If  we  eliminate  from  the  competitive  churches  the  twenty 
which  as  we  have  said  are  in  the  four  largest  towns  and  eliminate  also 
from  the  non-competitive  churches  the  unorganized  points,  we  will  have 
the  problem  as  it  affects  the  average  small  community.  This  will  leave 


56 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  Effects  of  Competition 

upon 

Church  Growth 

in  country  and  village  (immunities. 


(Sompetitive 
(PKurch.es 


Non-competitive 
(Shurches 


58.4%-. 


58.0% 


I I  Growiny 


Statu 


Competition  is  NOT  the  lite  of  tPKurches 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          57 

us  thirty-eight  non-competitive  and  twenty-four  competitive  churches  as 
a  basis  for  comparison.  These  twenty-four  competitive  churches  are 
naturally  for  the  most  part  in  better  locations  than  the  non-competitive 
churches,  which  include  such  organizations  as  those  in  the  Lake  Creek 
and  Deadwood  Creek  Valleys;  in  the  Siuslaw  Valley  above  Florence, 
and  in  similar  localities  where  the  population  resources  are  comparatively 
meager.  For  these  two  groups  we  find  about  the  same  average  member- 
ship per  church.  The  marked  difference  comes  in  the  net  gain  per  year. 
Last  year  the  net  gain  of  these  competitive  churches  was  an  average 
of  2.3  persons  per  church,  while  the  net  gain  of  the  non-competitive 
churches  was  an  average  of  four  persons  per  church.  Expressed  in 
terms  of  percentages  the  net  gain  for  the  competitive  churches  was 
7.3  per  cent,  while  the  net  gain  for  the  non-competitive  churches  was 
14.2  per  cent.  Considering  these  fields  over  a  somewhat  longer  period 
than  a  single  year  we  get  the  results  which  are  expressed  in  the 
following  table: 

Non-Competitive  Churches  Competitive  Churches 

No.  Per  Cent  of  Per  Cent  of  No. 

Churches          Total  No.  Total  No.          Churches 

i'i'  58.0  Increasing    20.8  5 

13  34.2  Stationary    20.8  5 

7.8  Decreasing  58.4  14 

38  100.0  Total    100.0  24 

The  only  point  at  which  the  competitive  churches  make  a  better 
showing  than  the  non-competitive  is  the  average  contribution  per  member. 
The  competitive  churches  did  make  a  slightly  better  showing  than  the 
non-competitive  churches  in  this  particular,  but  what  they  gained  in 
amount  of  giving  they  lost  in  efficiency  of  expenditure. 

CHAPTER  7— ORGANIZATIONS  IN  THE   CHURCHES 

The  most  numerous  and  the  most  valuable  of  the  various  auxiliary 
organizations  are  the  Sunday  Schools.  All  but  thirteen  of  the  one  hundred 
and  five  fields  have  Sunday  Schools.  Since  in  six  instances  two  churches 
unite  in  the  maintenance  of  a  union  Sunday  School,  the  total  number 
of  schools  connected  with  established  church  work  is  eighty-six.  The 
total  average  attendance  per  Sunday  in  these  eighty-six  schools  is  3,512, 
an  average  of  about  forty-one  per  school.  As  was  the  case  with  the 
church  organizations  many  of  these  Sunday  School  organizations  are 
small,  as  indicated  below: 

,  Number  schools  with  an  average  attendance  of  10  or  less 1 

Number  schools  with  an  average  attendance  of   11  to  20 17 

Number  schools  with  an  average  attendance  of  21   to   50 53 

Number  schools  with  an  average  attendance  of  51   to   100 9 

Number  schools  with  an  average  attendance  of  more  than   100 6 

Total    ..  86 


It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  small  Sunday  School, 
whether  it  is  small  because  of  a  scarcity  of  people  or  because  of  a 
division  of  the  people,  is  handicapped  when  compared  with  the  larger 
school.  It  is  very  seldom  possible  for  it  to  adopt  methods  which  from 


58          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

an  educational  point  of  view  are  adequate,  although  in  fairness  it  must 
be  said  that  many  of  the  small  schools  are  as  well  managed  and  main- 
tained as  some  of  the  larger  ones.  Fifteen  of  the  total  number  of  schools 
are  well  graded  throughout,  while  seven  others  are  working  toward  a 
good  system  of  grading.  Sixty-four  schools  are  very  loosely  graded, 
too  loosely  to  permit  efficient  work  from  the  classroom  point  of  view. 
The  size  of  the  school  also  has  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  curricula 
of  the  schools,  since  a  well-graded  curriculum  presupposes  a  well-graded 
school.  Only  five  schools  use  graded  lessons  throughout,  nine  others 
using  in  part  graded  lessons  and  in  part  the  uniform  series.  The  size 
of  the  school  hardly  offers  the  same  excuse  for  the  prevailing  weakness 
in  other  branches  of  Sunday  School  work.  For  example,  in  only  twenty- 
two  schools  are  there  organized  classes,  five  schools  being  organized 
throughout,  and  seventeen  others  being  partially  organized.  Twenty-one 
schools  have  cradle  rolls.  Eleven  have  home  departments.  Eight  have 
some  definite  system  of  teacher  training.  Sixteen  schools  regularly 
observe  decision  day.  A  little  less  than  half  of  the  schools  have  a 
reasonable  amount  of  social  life  in  connection  with  their  regular  work. 
Twenty-one  reported  a  great  deal  of  social  activity,  taking  the  form 
of  annual  picnics,  class  socials,  hikes,  etc.  Seventeen  others  have  some 
definite  social  activities  during  the  year.  Forty-eight  schools  reported 
no  social  life  in  connection  with  the  school.  In  addition  to  these  schools 
which  are  connected  with  established  church  work,  twenty-three  other 
schools  were  found  and  there  are  probably  more  than  that  number  in 
the  county.  Some  of  these  are  denominational  schools  organized  by 
denominational  missionaries.  Others  are  union  schools  in  most  cases 
organized  on  the  unit  of  a  public  school  district. 

The  most  common  of  the  organizations  other  than  the  Sunday  School 
is  the  ladies'  aid  society,  fifty-four  churches  having  the  assistance  of 
such  an  organization.  Thirty  churches  have  young  people's  societies. 
Thirty-seven  have  ladies'  missionary  societies.  Eight  have  junior 
endeavor  societies  and  three  have  brotherhoods.  Forty-seven  churches 
have  no  organizations  excepting  Sunday  Schools,  thirteen  of  these  having 
not  even  Sunday  Schools.  There  are  a  few  religious  societies  of  various 
sorts  other  than  Sunday  Schools  which  exist  without  church  organizations. 
An  interesting  aspect  of  this  question  of  auxiliary  organizations  is  the 
movement  in  some  sections  for  union  societies,  either  Sunday  Schools, 
women's  societies  or  young  people's  societies.  The  effects  of  this  move- 
ment are  in  the  main  good.  The  only  disadvantage  of  the  unattached 
organization  being  union  rather  than  denominational  is  the  ease  with 
which  it  can  die  and  never  be  missed.  This,  however,  is  offset  by  the 
advantage  of  uniting  the  religious  forces,  especially  where  they  are 
meager,  in  cases  where  the  use  of  a  denominational  name  might  give 
rise  to  divisions.  The  situation  is  a  little  different  when  we  find  the 
union  societies  existing  in  connection  with  two  or  more  established 
denominational  churches.  The  pastors  of  churches  in  such  instances 
frequently  feel  that  a  union  Sunday  School  or  young  people's  society 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          59 

under  such  circumstances  is  not  desirable,  because  it  is  difficult  to 
make  such  an  organization  culminate  directly  in  increased  strength  for 
the  church.  This  objection  cannot  be  lightly  disregarded,  because  it  is 
hardly  open  to  discussion  that  the  Sunday  School  and  the  young  people's 
society  do  not  exist  for  ends  which  are  independent  of  the  ends  of  the 
church,  but  are  simply  the  church  functioning  in  certain  definite  ways 
with  respect  to  certain  definite  groups  and  problems.  In  such  cases, 
however,  the  solution  would  seem  to  be,  not  to  divide  the  union  society 
into  two  or  more  denominational  societies,  but  to  unite  the  two  or  more 
church  organizations  into  one  organization.  Still  another  aspect  of  the 
question  is  met  in  several  communities  where  there  is  but  a  single 
church,  but  where  the  Sunday  School  or  the  young  people's  society  is  a 
union,  and  in  a  large  measure  independent  organization.  Here  the 
objection  mentioned  above  is  entirely  valid  and  it  does  not  seem  at  all 
desirable  that  the  church  should  lose  anything  of  the  direct  results 
which  would  naturally  accrue  to  it  from  the  work  of  these  various 
auxilliary  and  subsidiary  organizations. 

CHAPTER   8— THE   CHURCH   PROGRAM 

That  part  of  the  church's  work  which  expresses  itself  in  various 
organizations  we  have  already  considered,  and  some  light  has  been 
thrown  on  the  work  of  the  church  by  the  statements  regarding  increase 
or  decrease  in  membership.  The  most  important  means  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  primary  evangelistic  function  of  the  church  is  its  stated 
public  meetings.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  five  fields,  forty-three  have 
preaching  services  on  each  Sabbath  of  the  month;  thirty-two  on  two 
Sabbaths  per  month,  and  twenty-three  on  one  Sabbath  per  month.  This 
leaves  seven  which  at  the  time  of  the  survey  were  not  meeting  regularly. 
The  aggregate  monthly  attendance  at  all  services  was  a  little  over 
twenty-one  thousand,  and  the  total  number  of  services  per  month  being 
on  an  average  of  four  hundred  and  fifty-two,  this  would  make  an 
average  attendance  per  service  of  forty-seven,  whereas  the  average 
membership  per  church  is  thirty-six.  There  are  fifty  churches  in  the 
county  which  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  have  some  form  of  union 
services.  In  most  cases  where  there  are  two  or  more  churches  in  the 
community  these  churches  do  unite  for  the  Thanksgiving  Day  service 
and  in  a  less  number  of  instances  for  New  Year's  watch  meetings  or 
Christmas  exercises.  Ten  churches  united  in  other  union  preaching 
services,  as  for  the  Sunday  evening  services  during  the  summer  months. 
Ten  churches  united  in  such  union  activities  as  Sunday  Schools,  while 
ten  others  united  during  the  year  in  some  form  of  an  evangelistic 
campaign.  A  degree  of  denominational  rivalry  and  hard  feeling  sufficient 
to  check  any  very  definite  development  of  union  activities  was  reported 
in  the  case  of  twenty- three  organizations. 

We  have  mentioned  the  important  part  which  protracted  meetings 
played  in  the  gross  membership  gains  of  the  year  and  in  another  con- 
nection the  fact  that  most  of  the  net  gain  of  the  year  was  confined 


60          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

to  a  small  number  of  churches.  The  relation  between  these  two  state- 
ments is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  last  year  thirty-four  of  the  one 
hundred  and  five  churches  held  or  united  in  an  evangelistic  campaign. 
The  total  number  of  meetings  held  was  twenty-seven,  three  of  these 
being  union  meetings  involving  ten  churches.  Of  the  twenty-seven  dif- 
ferent meetings,  six  were  conducted  by  the  pastor  of  the  church  where 
they  were  held,  six  others  by  the  pastor  assisted  by  some  neighboring 
pastor,  while  fifteen  were  conducted  by  professional  evangelists.  In 
the  main  those  meetings  in  which  the  pastor  of  the  church  played  a 
leading  part  were  very  successful,  while  in  practically  every  instance 
of  a  revival  conducted  by  a  professional  evangelist  some  evidences  were 
found  of  a  resulting  hard  feeling  which  militated  against  complete  success. 
This  was  most  apparent  in  those  communities  having  more  than  one 
church.  This  merely  bears  out  observations  made  in  many  k>ther 
sections,  that  as  far  as  the  small  town  and  country  are  concerned, 
to  confine  ourselves  to  that  aspect  of  the  problem,  the  pastor  is  by 
all  odds  his  own  best  evangelist. 

Next  in  importance  in  the  consideration  of  the  program  of  the 
church  is  the  social  work  which  is  carried  on.  Most  of  this  work  can  be 
summed  up  under  three  heads.  First,  there  is  a  considerable  amount 
of  social  life  developed  as  a  regular  part  of  the  year's  work  of  various 
auxiliary  organizations  in  the  church  and  carried  on  with  no  apparent 
secondary  motive.  Under  this  head  we  would  include  Sunday  School 
picnics  and  class  socials  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  activities 
of  the  various  young  people's  societies,  which  in  most  cases  are  important 
for  the  members  of  those  organizations  only.  In  two  or  three  instances 
such  organizations  exerted  a  controlling  influence  over  the  social  activities 
of  their  communities.  Second,  we  may  note  that  there  is  an  amount 
of  social  life  centering  around  the  celebration  of  such  annual  holidays 
as  Christmas,  New  Year's,  Hallowe'en,  and  similar  occasions.  In  these 
the  communities  at  large  are  much  more  apt  to  unite  than  in  the  events 
above  referred  to.  Third,  there  is  here  as  alsewhere,  a  considerable  use 
made  of  various  kinds  of  social  functions  as  money-raising  devices  and 
more  than  one  preacher  is  paid  by  a  pie  social  or  ladies'  bazaar.  To  a 
very  slight  extent  does  it  seem  to  be  the  aim  of  most  of  the  churches 
to  furnish  adequate  social  life  for  the  whole  community,  although  without 
doubt  the  social  activities  of  the  churches  are  most  severely  tested  when 
considered  in  relation  to  the  general  problem  of  community  amusement. 
In  our  discussion  of  the  general  social  life  we  had  occasion  to  record 
the  great  prevalence  of  dancing  as  a  form  of  amusement  and  also 
to  note  that  there  was  a  very  considerable  use  of  Sunday  as  a  day  of 
recreation.  Most  of  the  churches  of  the  county  feel  that  their  influence 
is  limited  and  their  work  hampered  by  these  tendencies  of  which  most 
of  them  openly  disapprove.  It  will  at  once  appear  that  this  feeling 
might  give  rise  to  two  possible  attitudes.  One  would  be  for  the  church 
to  go  bludgeoning  after  the  amusements  of  which  they  disapprove  with 
a  club.  Such  an  effort  is  almost  never  successful  and  the  negative 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          61 

attitude  of  the  church  toward  the  amusement  problem  is  the  one  out- 
standing reason  why  most  of  the  churches  have  so  little  social  influence. 
A  pitched  battle  between  a  church,  particularly  a  weak  and  struggling 
church  and,  for  example,  a  community  dance  hall,  is  a  very  unequal 
contest  with  the  odds  in  favor  of  the  dance  hall.  There  are  a  number 
of  instances  in  the  county  of  languishing  or  dead  churches  in  close 
proximity  to  flourishing  dance  halls,  not  to  mention  the  one  case  in 
which  the  church  died  and  the  building  subsequently  became  the  dance 
hall.  The  other  possible  attitude  is  for  the  church  to  proceed  by  indirec- 
tion and  undermine  the  amusements  of  which  it  disapproves  by  satisfying 
the  needs  which  they  satisfy  and  doing  it  better,  or  by  monopolizing 
those  amusements,  where  it  can  do  so  conscientiously,  and  conducting 
them  under  auspices  to  which  no  exception  can  be  taken.  This  attitude 
requires  a  wise  and  resident  leadership,  which  as  we  shall  see  is  far 
too  often  lacking,  and  a  more  adequate  equipment  than  most  of  the 
churches  at  present  possess. 

It  is  a  short  step  from  the  consideration  of  the  relation  of  the  church 
to  the  amusement  problem  to  the  consideration  of  its  relation  to  many 
other  kinds  of  community  problems.  It  should  no  longer  be  necessary 
to  argue  that  whatever  concerns  the  welfare  of  the  community  concerns 
also  the  welfare  of  the  church,  its  most  voluntary  and  sensitive  institu- 
tion. A  good  many  of  the  churches  which  we  are  considering  are  so 
organized  and  so  conducted  that  they  have  practically  no  relation  to 
any  community  problem  outside  of  the  problem  of  maintaining  their  own 
special  religious  work.  Other  churches  concern  themselves  with  certain 
community  problems,  but  they  limit  that  concern  very  largely  to  three 
types  of  problems;  the  amusement  problem  and  the  problem  of  Sunday 
observance,  which  we  have  just  mentioned,  and  the  temperance  problem. 
The  churches  played  an  active  and  effective  part  in  the  campaign 
which  was  successfully  waged  last  year  for  State-wide  prohibition,  and 
have  in  the  past  played  a  very  effective  part  in  the  campaign  for  local 
prohibition.  This  work  is  important,  but  it  by  no  means  encompasses 
the  full  duty  of  the  church  toward  the  problems  of  its  community. 
There  has  been  developed  the  very  slightest  connection  between  the 
churches  as  a  whole  and  the  basic  social  and  economic  problems  with 
which  the  county  is  concerned.  Something  of  a  start  has  been  made, 
but  it  only  serves  to  define  the  extent  of  the  task.  For  example,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Goshen,  a  small,  weak  organization,  com- 
bined with  another  weak  church  under  the  care  of  a  minister  who  is 
supported  by  farming  and  not  by  his  ministry,  has  made  a  start  in  this 
direction  and  the  minister  has  this  year  opened  his  pulpit  to  various 
men  who  are  concerned  with  the  improvement  of  the  social  and  economic 
life  of  the  country.  But  the  church  as  a  whole  has  today,  and  has  had 
in  the  past,  far  less  influence  than  either  the  school  or  the  grange  in 
the  matter  of  arousing  community  interest  and  sentiment  and  organizing 
and  directing  it  to  good  ends. 


62          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

CHAPTER  9— THE  MINISTER 

The  organization  centers  around  the  man  and  we  cannot  get  far 
in  the  matter  of  improving  religious  conditions  without  considering  the 
number,  the  status  and  the  qualifications  of  the  men  who  are  primarily 
charged  with  the  direction  of  religious  work.  Of  the  one  hundred  and 
five  points,  eleven  were  without  pastoral  service  at  the  time  of  the 
survey.  These  eleven  were  most  of  them  occasionally  served  by  ministers 
or  students  residing  in  the  county,  or  otherwise  available,  but  not  regu- 
larly employed.  We  will  consider,  therefore,  ninety-four  points  having 
regular  pastoral  service.  These  ninety-four  points  were  served  last 
year  by  fifty-four  men.  We  must  first  consider  the  question  of  the 
distribution  of  ministerial  service,  using  the  church  rather  than  the 
minister  as  a  unit.  Thirty-five  of  these  churches  were  served  by  men 
who  combined  some  other  employment  with  the  ministry,  being  farmers, 
students  or  business  men.  In  twenty-three  of  these  cases  the  men  so 
employed  had  a  single  preaching  point.  In  eight  the  churches  were 
arranged  in  groups  of  twos,  while  four  churches  were  on  circuits  of 
three  churches  each,  two  churches  outside  the  county  bounds  completing 
the  circuits.  Fifty-nine  churches  were  served  by  men  giving  their  entire 
time  to  the  ministry,  but  they  divided  the  time  of  these  ministers 
amongst  them  as  follows:  Four  had  the  full  time  of  a  minister;  twenty- 
two  had  half  time;  seventeen  had  one-third  time;  ten  had  one-fifth  time 
and  six  were  combined  under  the  ministry  of  a  single  man.  These 
same  ninety-four  churches  which  had  a  measure  of  pastoral  service  may 
be  classified  with  respect  to  the  residence  of  the  pastor  as  follows: 
Thirty-three  had  a  pastor  resident  in  the  immediate  environment  of  the 
church,  while  in  twelve  other  instances  the  pastor  though  not  residing 
in  the  immediate  environs,  nevertheless  lived  within  the  limits  of  the 
logical  community  of  which  the  specified  preaching  point  was  a  part. 
Forty-five  could  therefore  be  said  to  have  had  resident  ministers.  In 
eleven  of  these  instances,  however,  the  minister,  though  resident,  com- 
bined the  ministry  with  some  other  employment.  Forty-nine  churches 
were  served  by  non-resident  ministers,  men  who  resided  neither  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  preaching  point  nor  within  the  larger  com- 
munity of  which  it  was  a  part.  At  one  time  the  Eugene  Commercial 
Club  popularized  the  phrase,  "Eugene,  the  City  of  Radiation."  A  glance 
at  the  map  on  page  63  would  show  the  force  of  that  phrase,  as  applied 
to  religious  conditions,  since  twenty-two  of  the  ninety-four  points  which 
we  are  considering  were  served  from  Eugene,  the  men  residing  there 
and  radiating  out  in  all  directions  on  a  Sabbath  morning  and  radiating 
back  on  a  Sabbath  night. 

Considering  the  same  questions  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  men 
rather  than  of  the  churches,  we  learn  that  of  the  fifty-four  ministers 
in  the  county  having  regular  appointments,  twenty-five  gave  their  full 
time  to  the  ministry,  while  twenty-nine  combined  the  ministry  with 
some  other  form  of  employment.  The  distribution  of  these  men 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


63 


'The   C,r«    of  Rad.af.on.' 


amongst  the  various  fields  we  may  indicate  by  the  following  table,  for 
convenience  referring  to  the  two  groups  of  ministers  as  full  time  and 
part  time  ministers: 


Full  Time  Ministers 

4 

1 2 
6 
2 

1 
25 


Part  Time  Ministers 

Having  one  preaching  point 23 

Having  two  preaching  points 4 

...Having   three   preaching   points 

Having  five  preaching  points 

Having    six   preaching   points 


Total 


It  is  important  to  notice  that  of  the  twenty-seven  ministers  who  it 
will  be  seen  served  each  only  one  point,  twenty-three  divided  their  time 
between  two  occupations,  while  of  the  twenty-five  ministers  who  gave 
their  whole  time  to  the  ministry  twenty-one  divided  that  time  between 
two  or  more  preaching  points.  The  phrase,  "ministerial  vivisection," 
which  we  have  frequently  been  moved  to  employ,  seems  most  aptly  to 
characterize  this  situation.  Of  course,  merely  to  say  that  a  man  has 
more  than  one  preaching  point  does  not  in  itself  give  any  clear  notion 
of  the  character  of  his  parish.  Eight  of  the  twenty-five  full  time 
ministers  who  had  more  than  one  point  have  fairly  logical  and  workable 
parishes.  This,  however,  leaves  thirteen  full  time  ministers  whose 
parishes  in  their  physical  makeup  have  no  justification  from  the  com- 
munity point  of  view.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  work  of 


64          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

the  ministry  is  of  sufficient  importance  and  involves  a  sufficient  amount 
of  work  to  logically  call  for  the  full  time  of  a  man,  although  doubtless 
there  are  instances  in  which  it  does  not  pay  enough  to  warrant  the 
giving  of  the  full  time,  and  although  also  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
there  are  kinds  of  missionary  and  extension  work  in  which  part  time 
men  can  be  utilized  to  very  good  advantage.  A  perfectly  justifiable 
expedient  is,  however,  here  seriously  overworked.  All  the  full  time 
ministers  are  resident  within  their  parishes,  although  when  their  parishes 
contain  two  or  more  communities  they  cannot  very  well  be  resident  near 
each  of  their  churches.  Of  the  twenty-nine  part  time  ministers,  eleven 
reside  in  their  parishes  and  eighteen  do  not. 

Such  a  system  as  we  have  outlined  above  is  made  possible  only  by 
a  narrow  and  relatively  profitless  conception  of  the  function  of  the 
church,  since  the  very  laying  out  of  the  field  prearranges  the  limits  to 
the  work  which  can  possibly  be  attempted.  These  limits  it  is  needless 
to  say  are  much  too  restricted.  The  question  will  always  be  asked, 
"what,  then,  would  you  do  with  those  weak  points  which  cannot  afford 
the  full  time  of  a  minister?  Isn't  such  service  as  they  could  receive 
under  this  system  better  than  no  service  at  all?"  It  is  not  entirely 
clear  that  such  service  is  better  than  none  at  all,  but  in  any  event  the 
question  does  not  admit  of  a  simple  answer,  for  it  raises  many  problems. 
For  one  thing,  many  of  the  points  now  without  adequate  service  could 
support  a  minister  if  they  were  properly  arranged  according  to  com- 
munity limits  and  if  the  religious  forces  within  those  community  limits 
were  united,  or  if  they  could  receive  for  a  time  a  sufficient  amount  of 
outside  help  to  make  possible  a  policy  of  promotion.  Further,  merely 
as  a  question  of  home  mission  polity,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  is  desirable 
or  wise  even  in  a  growing  country  to  so  extend  the  religious  work  that 
only  indifferent  results  can  be  achieved  at  any  point  and  so  that  at 
no  point  will  strong  self-supporting  work  be  created,  and  so  that  the 
minister  has  no  opportunity  to  relate  himself  helpfully  to  the  general 
problems  of  any  community.  In  various  instances  the  maintenance  of 
existing  arrangements  is  justifiable  only  on  most  narrowly  denomina- 
tional grounds.  The  citation  of  a  few  specific  cases  will  suffice  to 
make  this  problem  clear.  You  may  take  first  the  towns  of  Franklin 
and  Alvadore,  distant  about  three  miles  from  each  other,  northwest  of 
Eugene,  and  the  points  of  Hendricks  and  Stafford  on  the  Mohawk  River, 
some  distance  northeast  of  Eugene.  No  stretch  of  the  imagination  could 
possibly  include  all  these  points  within  the  limits  of  a  single  community. 
Alvadore  has  one  church,  a  Christian  Church,  served  by  a  man  who 
partially  supports  himself  by  farming.  This  same  minister  has  also  a 
church  in  Franklin.  Franklin  has  a  second  church,  Methodist  Episcopal 
South,  with  a  resident  pastor.  This  pastor  combines  his  work  at 
Franklin  with  the  care  of  organizations  in  Hendricks  and  Stafford. 
Hendricks  in  addition  to  its  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  has  also 
a  Christian  Church,  which  is  served  by  a  professor  from  the  Eugene 
Bible  University.  Another  instance:  Wendling,  Marcola,  Mabel,  Donna 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


65 


and  Camp  Creek  are  united  in  one  Methodist  Episcopal  appointment. 
The  first  four  of  these  points  do  combine  fairly  well  in  a  single  com- 
munity. Marcola  and  Donna  have  also  Christian  Churches  which  are 
under  the  care  of  a  minister  living  near  Marcola,  who  supports  himself 
entirely  by  farming.  Mabel  has  a  Brethren  Church,  the  minister  of 
which  is  supported  partially  by  home  mission  funds  and  partially  by 


66          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


working  in  the  mill.  Creswell,  on  the  Southern  Pacific,  south  of 
Eugene,  has  four  churches:  Methodist  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Baptist 
and  Christian.  The  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
attached  to  his  work  there  the  country  charge  of  Cloverdale,  a  logical 
arrangement.  The  Presbyterian  minister  has  appointments  at  Walker, 
where  there  is  a  Primitive  Baptist  Church,  and  at  School  No.  9  on  the 
Camus  Swale,  northwest  of  Creswell,  not  so  compact  a  parish,  but  one 
that  is  still  reasonably  workable.  The  Christian  Church  is  cared  for 
by  a  student  at  the  University  of  Eugene  and  the  Baptist  Church  is 
cared  for  by  a  farmer  living  just  out  of  Eugene.  The  general  territory 
surrounding  the  Middle  Fork  of  the  Willamette  affords  another  instance. 
In  this  whole  territory  are  four  churches  served  from  Eugene;  one 
church  served  by  a  resident  man  who  is  not  supported  by  his  ministry, 
and  five  churches  combined  on  a  circuit  of  one  full  time  minister.  All 
but  one  of  these  points  are  within  a  radius  not  to  exceed  six  miles. 
As  the  last  example  we  may  take  the  towns  of  Irving  and  Santa  Clara, 
a  very  short  distance  from  each  other,  north  of  Eugene.  Irving  has  a 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  served  by  a  student  from  Willamette 
University;  a  United  Brethren  Church,  served  by  a  student  from  Philo- 
math College,  and  an  abandoned  Christian  Church.  Santa  Clara  has 
a  Christian  Church,  served  by  a  student  from  the  University  at  Eugene, 
and  these  two  points  together  comprise  one  of  the  best  and  most  prosper- 
ous farming  communities  in  the  county.  It  is  probably  not  necessary 
to  add  any  words  of  explanation  to  this  bare  statement  of  fact. 

The    salaries    paid    for    ministerial    services    further    illuminate    the 
whole  matter,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  appended  table: 

Full  Time     Part  Time 
Ministers       Ministers 

Receiving  salary  of   $0.00 , 

Receiving  salary  of  $250.00  or  less 1 


Receiving  salary  of  $251.00  to  $500.00.. 
Receiving  salary  of  $501.00  to  $750.00.. 

Receiving  salary  of   $751.00   to   $1,000.00 7 

Receiving  salary  of  $1,001.00  and  over 

Amount  of  salary  unknown.... 

Total    25  29 

The  average  cash  salary  of  the  twenty-three  full  time  ministers  is 
$665.00,  nineteen  of  them  also  receiving  free  house  rent.  There  is  an 
old  saying  that  the  gospel  should  be  free,  but  one  would  hardly  assert 
that  it  should  be  as  free  as  the  above  table  would  seem  to  indicate. 
These  salaries  paid  are  merely  an  indication  of  the  support  given  the 
whole  work  and  they  indicate  the  vicious  circle  within  which  many 
small  points  are  confined.  We  are  told,  and  with  truth,  that  many  of 
these  points  cannot  raise  more  funds  for  the  support  of  their  ministers 
until  the  work  is  built  up.  We  know  that  the  work  will  never  be  built 
up  until  more  money  is  available  for  the  maintenance  of  a  better  prepared 
and  more  adequately  supported  resident  ministry,  but  if  one  cannot  get 
better  service  without  more  money  and  cannot  raise  more  money  without 
better  service,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  have  here  a  very  nice  problem 
of  home  mission  polity. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          67 

The  permanence  of  the  working  force  is  very  closely  related  to  the 
question  of  finance,  for  it  is  inevitable  that  these  weaker  churches 
should  have  to  accustom  themselves  to  an  endless  procession  of  ministers. 
One  church  whose  record  is  available  experienced  sixteen  different  min- 
isters in  fifteen  years.  There  are  some  others  which  doubtless  have  done 
even  better  than  this.  The  exact  figures  are  of  interest: 

Full  Time  Part  Time 

Ministers  Ministers 

Serving  present  parish  1  year  or  less 8  19 

Serving  present  parish   2   years 5  1 

Serving  present  parish  3  to  5  pears 11  5 

Serving  present  parish  6  to  10  years 1  4 

Total 25  29 

The  reason  why  some  of  the  part  time  ministers  have  remained  so 
long  in  their  parishes  is  that  they  own  property  there.  The  record  on 
the  whole  is  not  one  that  would  make  us  expect  very  much  continuity 
of  program. 

Lastly,  we  may  consider  a  question  which  is  primarily  subjective 
and  in  connection  with  which  we  can  only  venture  an  opinion,  based 
on  a  study  of  the  church  work  and  on  conversations  with  the  ministers 
themselves.  This  is  as  to  the  number  of  the  men  who  are  by  tempera- 
ment, viewpoint  and  training  equipped  to  render  community  service; 
the  men,  that  is  to  say,  who  view  their  problems  in  a  large  way,  who 
see  the  fundamental  implications,  who  are  cooperative,  open,  and  in  a 
measure  progressive.  Many  of  the  men  working  under  serious  handicaps 
are  capable  of  much  better  things  than  their  circumstances  permit  them 
to  achieve.  At  least  twelve  of  the  full  time  ministers  are  men  whom 
one  would  not  hesitate  to  commend.  The  remaining  number,  however, 
at  one  point  or  another  fail  to  encompass  their  full  task  in  their 
thinking  of  it  and  in  their  planning  for  it  and  hold  out  very  little  hope 
for  more  adequate  methods. 

CHAPTER    10— GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS    AND 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

Reverting  again  to  the  two-fold  division  of  the  problem  with  which 
we  opened  the  discussion  of  this  section,  we  may  recall  that  the  question 
of  developing  religious  work  in  a  territory  such  as  we  are  here  consider- 
ing involves  two  sides;  the  one,  the  problem  of  equipment  and  main- 
tenance of  the  local  work;  the  other,  and  fundamental  problem,  the 
problem  of  the  larger  statesmanship  involved.  As  to  the  local  churches 
it  is  clear  that  a  bare  statement  of  condition,  disregarding  the  causes 
involved,  must  be  to  the  effect  that  they  are  weak  on  the  side  of 
organization;  that  their  financial  methods  are  poorly  organized  and 
very  inadequate  and  that  they  are  characterized  by  a  narrow  point  of 
view,  and  a  restricted  program  of  work.  They  need  a  four-square 
program  of  community  development.  We  need  the  type  of  church  that 
can  fairly  be  called  a  community  church,  a  church  which  views  its 
primary  mission  as  the  upbuilding  of  the  community  in  the  interests  of 


68          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

the  Kingdom;  which  views  it  as  a  part  of  that  task  to  advance  every 
community  interest,  and  to  discourage  whatever  would  retard  the 
development,  and  which  is  concerned  with  the  organization  and  the 
direction  to  good  ends  of  community  interest  and  feeling. 

As  to  the  field  as  a  whole  we  need  first,  an  inquiry  into  the  social 
and  economic,  as  well  as  religious  justification  of  every  existing  organi- 
zation. With  this  should  go  an  inter-denominational  agreement  to 
abandon  needless  or  harmful  organizations,  an  agreement  which  would 
refer  also  to  future  development  and  expansion.  On  these  points  we 
must  do  some  clear  and  hard  thinking.  As  a  side  issue  to  this  we  need 
a  better  defined  policy  of  ministry  to  the  various  scattered  groups  of 
the  county.  Lastly,  we  need  a  well  prepared  and  adequately  supported, 
a  full  time,  a  resident  and  permanent  pastorate,  one  man  to  one  parish 
of  all  contiguous  and  related  territory.  Lacking  these  things,  the  work 
will  continue  to  be  inefficient,  costly  and  wasteful.  As  a  concluding 
example  we  may  refer  to  a  point,  which  though  not  in  this  county  was 
included  in  this  survey,  which  throws  the  whole  thing  into  clear  relief. 
This  is  a  farming  community  whose  topography  definitely  outlines  its 
limits  and  within  which  there  is  a  considerable  population  in  reasonably 
good  circumstances.  This  community  has  had  both  the  means  and  the 
inclination  to  organize  and  develop  a  fine  consolidated  grammar  school 
and  an  equally  fine  consolidated  high  school.  With  this  brief  statement  as 
a  background  let  us  note  that  its  religious  history  began  something 
more  than  a  half  century  ago,  with  the  organization  of  a  Baptist  Church 
which  promptly  died.  A  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  came  to  attend  the 
funeral  and  also  died  and  its  funeral  rites  were  read  by  a  Holiness 
Church,  which  shortly  took  its  place  beside  the  other  two.  Later  there 
came  into  the  community  somewhat  by  accident  a  minister  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  faith,  who  organized  a  church  there.  His  work 
for  a  time  prospered  and  the  church  after  four  or  five  years  reached 
a  point  of  strength  which  it  has  at  no  time  since  approached.  In  course 
of  time  this  Cumberland  Church  became  a  Presbyterian  Church  U.  S.  A., 
which  dwindled  steadily.  In  an  interim  of  service  when  it  was  unusually 
quiescent  an  Evangelical  Church  was  established  in  the  community.  The 
pastor  of  this  church  labored  alongside  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  a 
number  of  years  and  became  disgusted  and  left.  The  last  experiment 
which  the  Presbyterian  Church  macle  in  the  way  of  maintaining  a  pastor 
proved  very  unsuccessful,  as  the  man  was  entirely  unfitted  to  his  task. 
For  sometime  there  was  no  pastor  in  the  community.  At  the  time  of 
the  survey  the  Baptist  denomination  was  considering  the  resuscitation 
of  its  ancient  dead  and  the  establishment  of  a  pastor  there.  A  bare 
handful  of  church  people  were  available  to  launch  the  movement,  and 
what  the  future  may  be  does  not  yet  appear. 

That  this  record  of  futility  can  be  lightly  viewed  is  unthinkable  and 
yet  in  an  extreme  degree  it  indicates  the  character  of  much  of  the 
development  throughout  this  territory. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          69 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  It  is  obvious  that  the  ultimate  future  of  most  of  the  churches  in 
this   type   of   country   depends   upon   agriculture   as   an    industry.      The 
churches  should  therefore  promote  sound  and  permanent  agriculture  as 
a  foundation  of  organized  piety.     Ministers  should  study  the  agricultural 
problems  of  their  communities,  acting  as  local   agents  of  the  work  of 
the    County    Farm   Adviser.      They   should   preach    often   from   the   Old 
Testament  the  splendid  appeal  "Behold  I  have  set  the  land  before  you." 
The  churches  should  invite  the  meetings  of  farmers,  for  it  is  plain  that 
from  days  onward  the  church  lives  only  in  a  firm,  permanent  population, 
the  basis  of  which  will  be  productive  and  profitable  agriculture.     Profit 
and  satisfaction  will  be  secured  through  cooperation  first  of  all,  there- 
fore, the  churches  must  teach  obedience,  the  lesson  taught  on  every  Bible 
page,  in  order  that  their  people  may  possess  this  new  land  so  like  in 
many  ways  to  the  Promised  Land;  the  winning  of  which  required  the 
cooperation  of  God  and  his  people. 

2.  The  making  of  churches  is  the  second  greatest  task  of  godly  people 
in  this  county;  and  the  making  of  churches  is  accomplished  along  with 
the    making    of    communities.      We    recommend   the    careful    tracing   of 
community  lines,  in  this  survey,  to  the  attention  of  all  Christian  people. 
The  church  can  be  made  only  as  an  expression  of  the  community.     The 
time  has  not  yet  come  for  church-making  in  some  places;  in  others  the 
time  is  at  hand,  as  this  study  shows,  and  there  the  intensive  development 
of   strong   congregations   should  be   the   work   of  the   immediate  future. 
The  various  types  of  communities  in   Chapter  Three  should  be  treated 
according  to  their  differing  natures.     Personal  evangelism  is  needed  for 
the  first,  second,  fourth  and  eighth  classes.     For  the  second,  fifth,  sixth, 
and  seventh  classes  definite  measures  should  be  taken  to  develop  strong 
churches.     The  great  problems  of  the  future  are  in  these  communities. 

3.  We  recommend,  therefore,  the  promotion  of  a  limited  number  of 
churches,  in  communities  of  the  second,  fifth  and  sixth  classes,  by  the 
missionary    organizations,    in    use    of    funds    hitherto    devoted    only    to 
extension  work.     This  will  mean  that  those  denominations  which  have 
live  organized  churches  in  such  communities  shall  place  in  each  a  settled, 
resident  pastor,  with  a  house  for  him  to  live  in  and  an  adequate  salary 
and  shall  direct  him  to  develop  that  church  with  regular,  once  a  week 
services.      These   pastors   are   the   key   to   the   religious   problem   of  the 
county.     It  is  more  important  to  place  and  maintain  one  of  them  than 
to   support  two   absentee   missionaries;    and  these   pastors  may  also   be 
missionaries  so  far  as  is  consistent  with  thorough  development  of  the 
one  field  of  which  each  is  the  resident,  responsible  man  of  God.     For  a 
time  these  men  will  have  to  be  supported  out  of  missionary  funds;  and 
not  all  of  them  will   succeed;  but  they  and  their  type  of  work  possess 
the  key  to  the  future. 

4.  We   recommend  above  all   in  this  county  the  establishment  of  a 
certain  number,  even  though   it  be  a   small  number  for  some  years  to 


70 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


come,  of  community  churches.  The  survey  shows  that  the  county  enjoys 
several  lines  of  rather  high  development;  but  religion  is  not  one 
of  them.  The  churches  are  inferior  to  several  other  types  of  community 
organization.  They  should  be  improved  in  kind.  The  time  has  passed 
for  increasing  their  number.  A  new  standard  of  church  life  should  be 
exemplified.  It  is  not  necessary  to  recommend  measures. for  reducing  the 
number  of  small  churches.  They  will  die  of  themselves.  The  people  of 
Oregon  are  practical,  and  prompt  is  the  demise  of  the  useless  church. 
It  is,  however,  important  to  establish  the  useful  church,  rightly  located, 
served  by  an  educated  resident  minister,  well  supported,  giving  his  whole 
life  to  his  people,  interested  in  the  cordial  social  life  of  the  county, 
practical  and  fore-sighted  in  promoting  the  solid  welfare  of  a  land-owning 
people,  and  so  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Such  a  pastor  in  such  a  church 
is  the  master  of  the  future  of  the  county  and  the  community  church, 
growing  out  of  his  work,  will  solve  the  problems  of  overlapping  and 
neglect. 


SCENE  ON  THE  SHORE  OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  LANE  COUNTY 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY  71 

PART    IV 
EDUCATION 

BY  FRED  C.  AYER 
Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Oregon 

CHAPTER  1— FOREWORD 

The  following  account  is  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  present  the 
educational  situation  in  Lane  County,  Oregon,  with  particular  reference 
to  its  rural  aspects.  A  view  of  the  schools  of  Lane  County  at  work. was 
obtained  by  personal  inspection  of  all  districts  which  were  operating 
high  schools,  and  of  representative  groups  of  the  several  classes  of 
districts  which  were  conducting  grade  schools.  In  these  visits  no  attempt 
was  made  to  rate  separately  the  quality  of  individual  teachers  or  schools. 
The  point  of  view  at  all  times  has  been  one  looking  at  the  school  system 
as  a  whole,  and  individual  units  of  the  system  have  been  considered  only 
as  they  may  have  exhibited  the  salient  characteristics  of  the  general 
system,  or  the  manner  in  which  it  is  being  conducted.  A  second  and 
fertile  source  of  material  was  found  in  the  various  statistics  which  have 
been  accumulated  annually  by  the  county  and  State  educational  authori- 
ties. While  not  ideal,  the  availability  of  this  important  material  is 
distinctly  superior  to  that  of  the  majority  of  states  in  the  Union. 

As  a  check  upon  each  of  the  foregoing  sources  of  material,  an 
elaborate  set  of  questions  was  sent  to  the  head  of  each  school  in  the 
county.  The  questions  called  for  specific  information  concerning  ground 
and  material  equipment,  teaching  force,  pupils,  studies,  the  daily  program, 
libraries,  the  school  as  a  social  center,  and  a  number  of  miscellaneous 
items.  One  hundred  and  fifty-six  replies  were  received  out  of  a  possible 
one  hundred  and  eighty-five,  which,  despite  the  many  details  called  for, 
were  almost  without  exception  filled  in  accurately  and  completely.  Some 
twenty-five  detailed  district  maps  were  assembled  as  the  result  of  a  prize 
cup  offered  for  the  best  educational  map  of  a  single  school  district.  These 
were  particularly  illuminating  in  showing  the  geographical  distribution 
of  the  school  population. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  of  indebtedness  due  to  Mr.  E.  J. 
Moore,  County  Superintendent  of  Schools;  Mr.  A.  I.  O'Reilly  and  Miss 
Jennie  Bossen,  County  Supervisors,  for  ever  ready  assistance,  and  to 
Mr.  Earl  Kilpatrick,  Assistant  Dean  of  the  Extension  Division  of  the 
University  of  Oregon,  who  has  at  all  times  contributed  to  the  progress 
of  the  survey.  Great  assistance  in  the  compilation  of  certain  important 
statistics  has  been  given  by  a  number  of  advanced  students  in  the 
Department  of  Education  in  the  University  of  Oregon.  The  large  debt 
\vhich  is  due  to  Mr.  H.  N.  Morse  for  his  assistance  to  this  phase  of  the 
survey  is  too  evident  to  need  additional  mention  here,  but  is  most 
heartily  acknowledged. 

There  is  a  large  amount  of  sociological  material  which  relates  very 
closely  to  educational  problems  which  is  not  included  in  the  account 
which  follows,  but  which  is  presented  by  Mr.  Morse  in  the  earlier  chapters 


72 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


and  to  which  frequent  reference  will  be  made.  Attention  is  called  to 
the  fact  that  while  a  certain  amount  of  descriptive  material  has  been 
presented  in  the  following  account,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  cover 
the  field  from  this  point  of  view.  The  aim  throughout  the  work  has 
been  chiefly  toward  administrative  aspects  of  the  present  system  of 
county  education,  and  to  this  end  is  given  the  bulk  of  the  material 
which  follows. 

CHAPTER   2— ADJUSTMENT    TO    GEOGRAPHICAL    CONDITIONS 

If  the  reader  will   recall  what  has  been   said  in  an   earlier  chapter 
concerning  the   size  and  topography   of   Lane   County,  he  will   be   in   a 


THIRTY    MILES    FROM    EUGENE — UP    THE    McKENZIE    RIVER 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          73 


SIXTY   MILES    FROM    EUGENE— ON    TIDEWATER 

proper  mental  attitude  to  appreciate  the  statement  that  its  chief  educa- 
tional problem  is  one  of  geography.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  soil  and 
topography  determine  in  large  degree  the  life  and  welfare  of  counties 
and  countries  everywhere,  and  that  the  school,  as  the  chief  agency  in 
adjusting  the  race  to  continuous  control  of  its  remade  environment,  must 
everywhere  adapt  itself  specifically  to  its  immediate  surroundings.  It  is 
rarely,  however,  that  a  system  of  schools  is  called  upon  to  adapt  itself 
within  the  limits  of  a  single  county  to  climatic  and  other  geographical 
conditions  so  diversified  in  character  as  those  which  exist  within  the 
area  under  consideration. 

Without  attempting  to  review  what  already  has  been  given,  it  may  be 
said  in  a  few  words  that  Lane  County  is  a  huge  forest  spread  over 
the  vast  areas  which  comprise  two  separate  mountain  ranges — the 
Coast  and  the  Cascades.  Upon  the  lower  slopes  and  within  the  valleys 
of  these  two  major  and  innumerable  minor  ranges,  the  forest  gives  way 
to  the  field,  and  the  industries  of  civilization  supplant  the  unfettered 
growth  of  the  primeval.  Some  of  this  civilization  is  old.  Within  the 
Willamette  Valley,  grandfathers  are  common  who  were  born  within  the 
county.  Social  life  in  its  conventions  and  aspirations,  as  well  as  in  its 
more  concrete  embodiments  in  schools  and  churches,  and  colleges  and 
universities,  has  taken  on  all  of  the  stability  and  much  of  the  inertia 
that  go  with  age  everywhere.  Between  this  comparatively  old  civilization 
within  and  the  wilderness  everywhere  beyond,  has  been  going  on,  and 
still  continues,  the  world-wide  process  of  pioneering,  settlement  and 
absorption  of  the  frontier  into  the  interior.  Thus  social  variation 
exists  all  the  way  from  a  complexly  organized  university  city  down  to 
the  solitary  herder  or  hunter  in  the  hills. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  matter  from  another  aspect.  The  Pacific 
Ocean  lies  at  the  western  boundary  of  the  county,  and  fosters  the  typical 
coast  and  beach  life  upon  its  shores.  Between  the  coast  and  the  heights 


74          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

of  the  Coast  Range  and  lying  chiefly  on  the  western  slopes,  is  a  forest 
country  of  exceedingly  heavy  rainfall.  Down  the  eastern  slopes 
of  the  Coast  Range,  the  forest  gradually  thins  out  into  the  broad 
Willamette  Valley — a  fertile  plain  which  includes  the  larger  part  of 
the  population  of  the  county.  The  climate  is  mild  the  year  'round  and 
subject  to  moderately  heavy  rainfall.  Going  farther  east,  the  traveler 
comes  to  the  vast  forests  of  the  western  slopes  of  the  Cascade  Range, 
through  and  over  which  there  are  but  few,  and  these  difficult,  passable 
avenues  of  travel.  Beyond  the  Cascades  is  a  high  plateau  of  little 
rainfall,  and  possessed  of  the  vegetation  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
dry  or  desert  sections  of  this  country.  From  western  to  eastern  boundary 
of  Lane  County  are  to  be  found  floral  and  faunal  areas  with  plants 
and  animals  typical  of  the  coldest  arctic  and  the  warmest  tropical  regions, 
and  representatives  of  regions  of  the  heaviest  rainfall  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  most  xerotic  desert  on  the  other. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  school  system  which  has  developed  under 
these  variable  and  changing  conditions.  In  a  broad  way  the  educational 
situation  within  Lane  County  is  typical  of  that  of  the  entire  nation. 
Within  the  cities,  towns,  and  more  enterprising  rural  districts,  good 
schools  have  been  established,  are  being  well  conducted,  and  a  good  school 
spirit  exists;  in  the  rougher  rural  and  more  poorly  settled  districts 
conditions  shade  from  medium  down  through  poor  to  no  educational 
facilities  whatever.  The  State  law  makes  provisions  for  the  optional 
organization  of  a  school  district  whenever  ten  children  of  school  age 
live  within  a  given  area,  and  under  the  provisions  of  this  law  some 
one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  school  districts  have  been  established,  which 
now  give  six  or  more  months  of  school  each  year.  The  average  length 
of  the  school  term  within  Lane  County  is  7.80  months;  the  average  in 
the  State  of  Oregon  is  7.55  months;  the  average  throughout  the  United 
States  is  7.91  months. 

Districts  have  been  organized  from  year  to  year  as  new  centers  of 
population  have  grown  up.  For  the  most  part,  these  have  been  in 
valley  districts.  How  closely  the  location  of  the  school  district  is 
dependent  upon  geographical  features  is  indicated  by  the  names  which 
have  been  given  to  a  large  proportion  of  them,  such  as  Oak  Hill,  Spencer 
Creek,  Clear  Creek,  Clear  Lake,  Blue  Mountain,  Fawn  Creek,  Silk  Creek, 
Fir  Butte,  Fir  Grove,  Black  Butte,  Fall  Creek,  Upper  Camp  Creek, 
Lower  Camp  Creek,  Oakridge,  Lynx  Hollow,  Middle  Fork,  Coast  Fork, 
Rocky  Point,  Upper  Fern  Ridge,  etc.  For  the  greater  part  the  more 
newly-organized  districts  are  relatively  poor  financially  and  have  a  small 
number  of  widely  scattered  school  children,  and  are  possessed  of  poor 
transportation  facilities.  This  general  condition,  although  more  highly 
aggravated  in  Lane  County  than  elsewhere,  is  not  uncommon  throughout 
the  United  States,  and  raises  everywhere  the  problem  of  equalizing  the 
educational  opportunity  of  the  rural  child  with  that  of  the  city  child. 
What  has  Lane  County  done  to  meet  the  problem  of  rural  education 
under  these  particular  geographical  conditions? 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          75 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  said  that  it  has  organized  a  county 
educational  system  (to  be  described  more  in  detail  later),  which  gives 
special  aid  to  rural  school  districts.  The  present  law  provides  that  any 
school  district  which  is  unable  to  raise  an  amount  in  the  aggregate  equal 
to  three  hundred  dollars  ($300.00)  shall  be  aided  from  the  general  fund 
of  the  county  up  to  this  amount.  This  is  an  important  help  to  the 
weakest  districts,  but  under  the  present  law  it  fails  in  a  large  number 
of  cases  to  provide  ample  educational  facilities.  The  law  works  auto- 
matically, regardless  of  the  needs  of  individual  districts.  The  county 
authorities  who  have  charge  of  its  educational  system,  should  have 
definite  power  to  distribute  a  certain  portion  of  the  county  funds  in 
places  where  they  are  most  needed.  The  State  authorities  who  encourage 
educational  efforts  by  means  of  setting  up  standards,  etc.,  should 
similarly  be  in  a  position  to  grant  financial  aid  to  deserving  effort,  as 
is  common  in  many  other  states. 

In  the  second  place  the  county  undertakes,  through  a  county  superin- 
tendent of  schools  and  rural  supervisors,  to  supervise  rural  education. 
I  am  positively  convinced  that  no  other  equal  sum  of  money  spent  within 
recent  years  has  resulted  in  so  much  good  educationally  as  has  the 
amount  devoted  to  the  county  supervisory  system.  The  quality  of 
instruction  has  been  improved,  district  school  boards  have  been  given 
information  by  virtue  of  which  they  were  enabled  to  select  better 
teachers,  and  information  concerning  higher  standards  existing  elsewhere 
has  been  given  to  local  schools.  The  attempts  of  the  State  Department 
of  Education  and  the  extension  departments  of  the  higher  educational 
institutions  of  the  State  to  render  aid  to  the  rural  schools  has  been 
greatly  facilitated  by  the  efforts  of  the  rural  school  supervisor.  In  fact, 
it  has  been  through  the  supervisory  system  that  the  rural  districts  have 
come  to  give  attention  to  actual  conditions,  to  compare  themselves  with 
better  schools,  and  to  elevate  their  efforts  to  a  decidedly  higher  level. 
The  results  of  this  movement  have  been  of  inestimable  value.  One  of  my 
students  made  an  elaborate  study  of  the  supervisory  system  throughout 
the  entire  State,  and  assembled  facts  and  figures  which  give  irrefutable 
evidence  of  the  striking  progress  made  through  the  specific  work  of 
the  supervisors.  The  definite  changes  brought  about  in  Lane  County 
under  this  system  during  the  past  four  years  are  so  numerous  as  to 
characterize  the  supervisory  movement  as  the  most  significant  one  of 
county  education  in  recent  years. 

State  law  also  makes  provision  for  consolidation  on  the  part  of  school 
districts  which  may  wish  to  pool  interests  and  thus  increase  educational 
opportunities.  Unfortunately,  this  change  depends  upon  the  vote  of 
each  of  the  several  districts  concerned,  and  this  measure  which  has  been 
so  prolific  of  better  school  conditions  elsewhere  has  produced  no  con- 
solidation whatever  in  Lane  County  within  the  past  few  years,  and  only 
two  of  the  entire  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  districts  at  present  are 
the  result  of  consolidation.  Here  again,  greater  powers  should  be  given 
to  the  county  educational  authorities.  It  is  true  that  there  are  certain 


76 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


exceptional  difficulties  in  the  way  of  transportation  to  be  considered  in 
many  places,  but  I  have  before  me  a  number  of  sets  of  figures,  carefully 
worked  out,  which  indicate  clearly  that  there  are  many  districts  which 
would  be  materially  improved  by  consolidation  with  their  neighbors. 
Secondary  education  has  profited  more  markedly  under  united  effort, 
for  there  are  seven  union  high  schools  within  the  county,  the  majority 
of  which  are  in  successful  operation.  Besides  these,  there  are  twenty 
district  high  schools,  fifteen  of  which  have  been  standardized  under  the 
regulations  of  the  State  Board  of  Education.  A  number  of  these  are 
made  possible  by  the  county  high  school  fund,  a  fund  raised  by  county 
taxation,  but  apportioned  to  districts  maintaining  high  schools.  This  is 
a  praiseworthy,  although  isolated,  example  of  the  benefits  which  county 


TYPICAL    RURAL    UNION    HIGH    SCHOOL 

aid  to  district  educational  endeavor  may  bring  about.  Finally  may  be 
mentioned  the  State's  effort  in  the  way  of  providing  a  uniform  course 
of  study,  uniform  textbooks,  and  uniform  eighth  grade  examinations. 
There  is  a  large  body  of  educational  material  in  the  way  of  the  funda- 
mental subjects,  which  may  be  considered  as  the  core  of  the  course  of 
study,  to  be  taken  by  all  pupils,  regardless  of  local  considerations,  and 
which  may  very  properly  be  controlled  by  the  State  educational  authori- 
ties. For  the  manner  in  which  they  have  placed  expert  knowledge  of 
the  organization  and  presentation  of  this  fundamental  body  of  material 
in  the  hands  of  rural  teachers,  the  State  educational  authorities  deserve 
great  praise.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to 
find  an  educational  authority  who  would  recommend  anything  which 
approaches  complete  uniformity  in  a  course  of  study  to  be  followed,  or 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          77 

textbooks  to  be  used,  without  deviation  throughout  an  area  which  has 
the  geographical  variation  to  be  found  in  Lane  County.  At  present  with 
very  minor  differences,  children  in  communities  where  fishing  is  the 
chief  industry,  children  in  districts  where  all  are  concerned  in  the  lumber 
industry,  and  children  in  rural  and  city  districts,  are  all  following  the 
same  course  of  study  and  using  the  same  textbooks.  Without  question 
some  modification  of  the  present  State  uniformity  should  be  brought 
about,  and  very  preferably,  power  given  to  the  county  educational 
authorities  to  modify  the  curriculum  or  to  adopt  textbooks  when  a 
change  in  either  proves  of  specific  benefit  to  the  individual  community 
concerned.  The  use  of  uniform  eighth  grade  examinations  will  be 
discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 

Looking  now  at  county  rural  education  as  a  unit,  the  most  significant 
need  at  present  is  that  of  greater  power  in  the  hands  of  the  county 
educational  authorities.  Mention  has  been  made  in  a  previous  chapter 
of  the  existence  of  a  number  of  natural  "social  centers."  The  centers 
which  have  developed  during  the  growth  of  the  county  have  been  largely 
determined  by  geographical  considerations,  which  indicate  clearly  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases  that  they  will  remain  important  centers  in  the 
future.  Consolidation  of  educational  effort  should  occur  at  these  points 
of  social  development,  and  should  be  under  the  specific  direction  of  the 
county  authorities.  High  schools  should  be  located  at  such  points,  and 
not  indiscriminately,  as  at  present.  There  are  by  far  too  many  school 
districts  in  Lane  County.  The  number  should  be  greatly  reduced  by 
consolidation.  No  other  business  in  the  world  would  scatter  its  financial 
and  technical  management  under  so  many  separate  heads.  It  is  all  too 
evident  that  these  districts  will  never  be  consolidated  under  the  present 
educational  system,  and  that  until  such  time  as  consolidation  and  cen- 
tralization may  occur,  effective  wide-spread  rural  education,  even  by 
way  of  approximation,  will  be  out  of  the  question. 

CHAPTER  3— INSTRUCTION  AND  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

Although  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  rate  specifically  the  quality 
of  instruction  being  given  by  the  various  teachers  in  Lane  County,  a 
substantial  array  of  facts  has  been  gathered  which  bear  directly  upon 
teaching  and  the  course  of  study.  One  of  the  important  elements  which 
conduce  toward  superior  teaching  is  adequate  supervision.  Wherever 
expert  study  has  been  made  of  teaching,  or  actual  measurements  of 
progress  taken,  it  has  been  shown  that  supervised  teaching  is,  on  the 
whole,  markedly  superior  to  independent  teaching.  Despite  this,  one  of 
the  difficulties  with  which  educational  authorities  have  to  contend  in 
Lane  County  is  a  somewhat  wide-spread  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
taxpayers  to  regard  supervision  as  something  necessary  to  counteract 
poor  teaching,  rather  than  as  a  means  for  directing  good  teaching.  The 
fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  total  running  expenditure  in  other 
business  enterprises  than  teaching  is  devoted  to  management  and  super- 


78 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


vision  is  lost  sight  of.  In  the  face  of  this  general  feeling  county  super- 
vision has  made  excellent  progress  despite  the  recent  reduction  of  the 
number  of  supervisors. 

Compared  with  city  systems,  in  which  instruction  is  given  by  more 
expert  teachers  under  the  special  direction  of  supervisors  and  with  a 
superintendent  in  full  control  of  the  selection  and  assignment  of  teachers, 
the  rural  school  system  is  at  a  decided  disadvantage.  The  present 
situation,  not  only  in  this  county  but  in  other  counties  similarly  situated, 
calls  for  a  marked  increase  in  the  amount  of  attention  given  to  individual 
rural  schools. 

At  present,  the  amount  of  time  which  a  supervisor  can  give  to  any 
one  school  is  far  too  short.  In  the  face  of  this,  several  special  devices 
have  been  called  into  play  which  have  been  wonderfully  helpful  and 
constructive  in  improving  rural  education  in  Lane  County.  One  of  these 
is  known  as  the  "standardization  movement,"  which  has  been  described 
in  the  previous  chapter  and  which  has  resulted  in  better  equipment  and 
teachers  everywhere.  Another  is  known  as  the  "school  rally  movement/' 
which,  although  usually  associated  with  the  standardization  movement, 
has  been  in  itself  distinctly  and  characteristically  successful.  Under  the 
stimulation  of  the  county  supervisor,  various  communities  have  been  led 
to  hold  social  gatherings  at  the  district  school  grounds  which  have 
attracted  practically  the  entire  population  for  miles  around.  During  the 
course  of  the  day  addresses  have  been  made  upon  school  questions  by 
various  educational  authorities  brought  in  by  the  supervisors.  As  a 
result  of  this  mixture  of  social  and  educational  interests,  school  and 
community  enthusiasm  have  been  aroused  to  a  high  pitch  and  almost 
invariably  some  direct  concrete  improvement  has  been  the  result  of 
each  specific  rally.  Not  only  in  the  way  of  school  improvements,  but 


RURAL    SCHOOL   FLOAT    AT    ANNUAL   COUNTY    RALLY 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


79 


PART    OF    THE    MILE-LONG    PARADE    AT    ANNUAL    COUNTY    RALLY 

in  community  socialization  it  would  be  difficult  to  overstate  the  benefits 
which  have  accrued  through  the  school  rally  movement.  An  enlargement 
upon  the  local  rally  has  resulted  in  the  annual  county  school  rally  held 
in  Eugene. 


TABLE    1. 


PREPARATION    OF    LANE    COUNTY    TEACHERS    IN 
THIRD   CLASS   DISTRICTS 


Number  of  teachers  having  completed  eighth  grade  only 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  one  year  high  school 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  two  years  high  school 18 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  three  years  high  school 13 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  four  years  high  school 98 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  one  year  normal 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  two  years  normal 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  one  year  college..... 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  two  years  college 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  three  years  college 1 

Number  of  teachers  having  completed  four  years  college 

A  large  array  of  prizes  offered  each  year  calls  forth  exhibits  from 
practically  all  the  schools  in  the  county.  Large  crowds  attend  the  rallies 
and  much  good  results  from  the  enthusiasm  thus  generated.  Accompany- 
ing illustrations  picture  several  units  of  the  school  parade  which  occurs 
each  year. 

As  a  whole,  the  rural  teachers  in  Lane  County  are  distinctly  superior 
to  those  of  the  majority  of  the  states.  The  average  monthly  salary  for 
teachers  in  one-room  buildings  in  Lane  County  for  the  year  1915  was 
$55.00,  and  for  assistant  teachers  in  schools  having  more  than  one  room, 
$72.00.  In  comparison  with  the  situation  in  many  other  states,  these 
averages  are  high.  Principals  in  Lane  County  receive,  on  the  average, 
a  salary  of  $98.50.  There  is  relatively  a  large  share  of  college  (14  per 


80          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


L\NE  COUNTY  RURAL,  SCHOOLS  ARE  STIMULATED  BY  THE  WORK 
OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OREGON  AT  EUGENE 

cent)  and  normal  (20  per  cent)  trained  teachers  in  Lane  County  in  the 
rural  schools,  and  a  conspicuously  small  number  of  teachers  (15  per  cent) 
who  have  had  less  than  a  high  school  education.  (See  Table  1.)  More- 
over, as  the  school  law  now  stands,  it  will  be  impossible  in  the  future 
for  beginners  to  teach  in  the  rural  schools  with  less  than  a  high  school 
education  in  addition  to  special  professional  training.  It  must  be  said, 
therefore,  that  with  respect  to  the  individuality  of  its  teachers,  Lane 
County  on  the  whole,  is  to  be  highly  congratulated.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  there  are  many  who  change  positions  each  year,  although  from  a 
comparative  point  of  view  the  actual  exchange  may  be  said  to  be  favor- 
ably low.  There  are  many  new  teachers  each  year  without  experience, 
but,  again,  it  may  be  said  that,  on  the  whole,  there  is  a  praiseworthy 
number  of  teachers  who  have  had  considerable  experience  and  many 
of  the  new  teachers  are  those  who  have  had  training  which  includes 
supervised  practice  teaching. 

Lane  County  also  stands  high  in  another  important  phase  of  school 
activity.  That  is  in  the  percentage  of  school  attendance.  The  State  of 
Oregon  is  foremost  in  the  United  States  in  the  matter  of  school  attend- 
ance, and  Lane  County  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  Oregon.  In  1914-1915 
the  average  attendance  was  96  per  cent.  This  happy  condition  is  due 
to  several  causes.  The  method  of  recording  attendance  undoubtedly 
plays  a  minor  part  and  the  compulsory  school  law  a  major  part,  but 
as  Lane  County  is  the  same  in  these  respects  as  are  counties  in  many 
other  states  which  have  decidedly  poorer  school  attendance,  the  results 
are  chiefly  due  to  some  other  cause.  This  is,  undoubtedly,  the  local 
spirit  which  has  been  aroused  everywhere  in  Oregon  by  State  and  county 
educational  authorities — a  spirit  which  makes  it  the  duty  of  everyone 
to  see  that  children  attend  school  during  its  regular  sessions. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  course  of  study  and  the  school  program. 
The  rural  districts  are  not  so  fortunate  here.  Not  only  does  the  course 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


81 


SCALE-  6  INCHEJS=  1  MILL 
SCHOOL.  HOUSE. 
CHURCH 


=  _==.  ROAIX5 

TYPICAL  SCHOOL  DISTRICT  IN  LANE  COUNTY.     THIS  MAP  WAS  DRAWN 
BY  A  PUPIL  AND  WON  A  PRIZE  IN  A  COUNTY  CONTEST 


82          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

of  study  as  a  whole  lack  in  adaptability  to  local  conditions,  as  has  been 
suggested  previously,  but  even  in  the  richest  part  of  its  content,  it 
suffers  from  the  demands  which  it  makes  upon  the  rural  teacher  who 
must  teach  eight  different  school  grades  at  one  time.  This  is  shown 
quite  clearly  by  noting  the  schedule  of  studies  which  is  exhibited  by 
rural  school  programs.  The  following  program  is  typical  of  those  to 
be  found  everywhere  in  rural  sections: 

TYPICAL  LANE  COUNTY  RURAL  SCHOOL  PROGRAM 

9:00-  9:15 — Opening  Exercises. 

9:15-   9:30 — Primary  Reading. 

9:30-  9:45— Third   Grade  Reading. 

9:45-10:00 — Fifth   Grade   Arithmetic. 
10:00-10:15--Sixth  Grade  Arithmetic. 
10:15-10:30 — Seventh   Grade  Arithmetic. 
10  :30-10  :45 — Recess. 
10:45-11:00 — Primary  Numbers. 
11:00-11:15 — Third  Grade  Numbers. 
11:15-11:30 — Fifth  Grade  Reading. 
11:30-11:40 — Sixth  Grade  Reading. 
11:40-11:50 — Seventh  Grade  Reading. 
11:50-12:00 — Fifth  and  Sixth  Grade  Hygiene. 
12  :00-  1  :00 — Intermission. 

1  :00-  1  :10 — Opening  Exercises. 

1:10-   1:20 — Primary   Reading. 

1:20-  1 :30 — Third  Grade  Language. 

1  ;30-   l  :  4  5— Fifth   and    Sixth   Grade   Language. 

1:45-   1:55 — Primary   Special. 

1  :55-   2  :10 — Writing. 

2:20-   2:30 — Third  Grade   Spelling. 

2  :30-   2  :45 — Recess. 

2  :45-   3  :00 — Seventh  Grade  History. 

3  :00-  3  :10 — Fifth  Grade  Geography. 
3:10-  3  :20 — Sixth  Grade  Geography. 

3  :20-  3  :35 — Seventh  Grade  Geography. 
3:35-   4  :00— Spelling. 

Examination  of  the  foregoing  program  indicates  clearly  that  the 
rural  pupil  and  the  rural  school  teacher  are  at  great  disadvantage  as 
compared  with  pupils  and  teachers  within  the  city  districts. 

As  I  write  I  have  before  me  tabulations  which  show  the  distribution 
of  the  time  of  one  hundred  rural  teachers  in  the  various  subjects  for 
the  eight  different  grades.  The  number  of  separate  recitations  which 
one-room  teachers  must  conduct  daily  averages  above  twenty-six  per  day. 
Most  of  them  extend  over  a  period  of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  Under 
these  conditions  adequate  instruction  is  practically  impossible.  More- 
over, in  addition  to  inadequate  instruction  in  such  subjects  as  may  be 
given,  it  is  very  probable  that  many  rural  school  pupils  in  the  numerous 
one-teacher  schools  will  receive  no  instruction  whatever  in  such  important 
subjects  as  music,  drawing,  nature  study,  manual  training,  domestic 
science,  public  speaking  and  physical  training.  Out  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  schools  reporting,  seventy-eight  indicated  that  they  offer  no 
nature  study,  seventy-seven  have  no  music  whatever,  and  ninety-two  do 
not  give  work  in  drawing.  But  twenty-one  schools  offer  domestic  science, 
and  that  frequently  means  hot  lunch  preparation  only.  But  sixteen 
attempt  manual  training.  It  is  perhaps  just  as  well,  considering  the 
welfare  of  the  regular  program,  that  the  rural  teachers  do  not  attempt 
the  optional  subjects,  and  for  those  who  hold  strongly  to  the  three  "R's" 
there  is  some  consolation  in  the  present  school  programs. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          83 

Under  these  conditions  it  is  interesting:  to  note  what  progress  has 
been  made  by  rural  pupils.  No  tests  have  been  given  to  measure  school 
achievement  in  the  rural  school  other  than  the  general  final  eighth  grade 
examination,  which  in  many  schools  indicates  poor  progress  in  the 
mastery  of  subject  essentials.  However,  to  a  certain  extent,  progress 
is  indicated  by  the  grades  in  which  children  may  be  found  at  certain 
ages.  It  has  come  to  be  accepted  the  country  over  that  if  a  child  is 
promoted  out  of  the  first  grade  before  he  is  over  eight  years  of  age, 
and  passes  one  grade  a  year  thereafter,  he  is  making  normal  progress. 
If  he  has  not  done  this,  he  is  regarded  as  being  over  age  or  retarded. 
The  percentage  of  retarded  pupils  to  be  found  within  a  school  system  is, 
therefore,  an  index  of  the  progress  of  the  pupils  through  the  grades. 
Many  factors  enter  into  retardation,  which  cannot  be  considered  here, 
but  it  will  be  valid  for  comparative  purposes  to  make  use  of  general 
percentages  of  retardation,  as  they  exist  at  present  in  Lane  County. 
To  this  end  a  study  was  made  of  the  age-grade  enrollment  of  fifty  rural 
schools  selected  at  random  from  among  the  schools  of  the  county,  but 
including  schools  of  various  sizes  up  to  two  hundred  pupils.  Table  2 
shows  the  distribution  by  ages  and  grades  of  the  1,572  pupils  enrolled 
in  these  fifty  elementary  schools.  The  figures  in  each  square  show  how 
many  pupils  of  the  same  age  were  in  the  same  grade;  thus  in  grade  I, 
there  were  twelve  pupils  five  years  old,  sixty-five  pupils  six  years  old, 
ninety-four  pupils  seven  years  old,  fifty  pupils  eight  years  old,  seven 
pupils  nine  years  old,  six  pupils  ten  years  old,  four  pupils  eleven  years 
old,  one  pupil  twelve  years  old,  and  one  pupil  fifteen  years  old.  The 
pupils  below  the  heavy  zigzag  line  in  the  table  are  retarded  (over  age 
for  their  grade).  At  the  bottom  of  the  table  may  be  found  a  summary 
of  the  total  retardation  by  grades. 

As  a  whole,  this  table  discloses  several  important  conditions.  The 
percentage  of  retardation  for  the  whole  group  is  fifty-one,  which  is 
about  10  per  cent  more  than  is  ordinarily  found  in  city  districts.  No 
figures  are  available  for  comparison  with  similar  rural  districts,  but 
the  Lane  County  situation,  undoubtedly,  averages  favorably.  Late 
entrance  has  undoubtedly  been  a  large  factor  in  these  schools,  for  the 
difference  between  the  amount  of  retardation  found  in  the  lower  and 
upper  grades  is  much  less  than  that  which  is  ordinarily  found.  The 
same  thing  is  indicated  by  two  striking  features  of  the  enrollment;  one 
which  shows  that  there  are  nearly  as  many  pupils  enrolled  in  the  upper 
grades  as  are  enrolled  in  the  lower,  and  the  other,  which  shows  an 
exceptionally  large  number  of  pupils  enrolled  who  are  over  fourteen 
years  of  age,  and  who  have  not  quit  school.  In  Lane  County  there  is 
23  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades, 
as  compared  with  14  per  cent  in  the  United  States.  The  comparison 
between  Lane  County  and  the  United  States  as  a  whole  is  exhibited  in 
table  3  and  shown  graphically  in  the  figure  on  page  85.  In  Lane  County 
there  are  over  13  per  cent  of  the  pupils  fifteen  years  of  age  or  over,  as 
compared  with  less  than  5  per  cent  in  the  United  States. 


84 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


TABLE  2.     DISTRIBUTION  OF  LANE  COUNTY  RURAL  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 

BY  GRADES  AND  AGES;    SCHOOLS   SELECTED  AT   RANDOM; 

CHILDREN  BELOW  HEAVY  LINE  ARE  RETARDED 


AGE 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

TOTAL 

5  

12 

12 

6  

65 

5 

70 

7 

94 

39 

4 

137 

8 

50 

61 

39 

7 

147 

9  

7 

45 

65 

JO 

5 

142 

10  

6 

28 

47 

66 

19 

6 

1 

178 

11 

4 

3 

32 

71 

45 

82 

4 

181 

12 

1 

2 

10 

36 

41 

66 

20 

1 

177 

13  „  

1 

3 

18 

37 

52 

52 

25 

188 

14  

1 

6 

12 

24 

56 

34 

133 

15 

1 

1 

14 

16 

30 

61 

123 

16  

1 

9 

5 

13 

27 

48 

17  

1 

8 

5 

18 

27 

18 

1 

3 

7 

11 

19 

1 

2 

3 

TOTAL 

240 

175 

200 

227 

175 

196 

186 

173 

1572 

RETARDED. 

69 

80 

92 

134 

106 

10* 

109 

113 

805 

PER  CENT 

29 

46 

46 

59 

61 

52 

59 

65 

51 

The  ability  of  Lane  County  rural  schools  to  hold  their  pupils  despite 
over-age  is  commendable,  and  is  due  partly  to  the  same  spirit  which 
promotes  the  high  average  of  attendance,  and  partly  to  lack  of  remun- 
erative employment.  More  significant  from  the  administrative  point  of 
view  is  the  amount  of  retardation  which  are  found  in  schools  of 
different  sized  enrollments  and  numbers  of  teachers.  Table  4  exhibits 
the  retardation  by  grades  in  five  classes  of  schools;  those  having  seventy 
to  two  hundred  pupils  with  two  teachers,  and  four  classes  having  three 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


85 


TABLE    3.      NUMBER    OF    PUPILS    AND    PER    CENT    OF    TOTAL    SCHOOL 

POPULATION  IN  VARIOUS  GRADES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AND   IN    LANE    COUNTY   RURAL    SCHOOLS 


NUMBER  OF  PUPILS 

PER  CENT 

United  States 

Lane  County 

United 
States 

Lane 
County 

Grade  I     .                                            4,480,225 

240 

23  5 

15  3 

Grade  II     2,819,682 

175 

14.8 

11.1 

Grade  III                                               2  651  912 

200 

14  0 

Grade  IV    2,531,804 

227 

13.3 

14.5 

Grade  V    2,150,508 

175 

11.3 

11.1 

Grade  VI    1,763,493 

196 

9  2 

12  5 

Grade  VII    1,454,643 

186 

76 

11  8 

Grade  VIII                                         1  212  520 

173 

6  3 

0.0 

11  0 

All                                                   19,064  787 

1  572 

100  0 

100  0 

J- 

Pdtcd  Uix-UnM^/fcW 

>~O~~<;a) 

\              Full  Line  -  LaneGouny, 
\ 

*    '  * 

\ 

—-4 

\ 

\ 

15" 

V        v  —                    ^ 

-  *• 

3 

^X^x*^"" 

•  —  .  — 

•i  ^ 

^_^      10 

• 

"x^. 

*i^ 

~*S  s 

""•••» 

s, 

o 

£_< 

I       IE      IE      3Z     21      3ZL     HE     ~3SL 

x-/chool  Grade. 

to  fifteen,  fifteen  to  twenty-five,  twenty-five  to  fifty,  fifty  to  seventy 
pupils,  and  having  but  one  teacher.  The  schools  having  an  enrollment  of 
from  seventy  to  two  hundred  pupils  with  more  than  one  teacher  have  a 
total  average  retardation  of  45  per  cent  as  compared  with  51  per  cent, 
the  average  of  all  the  schools.  The  two  classes  of  small  schools  having 
from  three  to  fifteen  pupils  and  fifteen  to  twenty-five  pupils  in  each, 
and  with  one  teacher,  have  50  per  cent  retardation,  which  indicates  that 
one  teacher  who  is  not  burdened  with  too  many  pupils  can  make  average 
progress  with  them,  but  the  one-teacher  schools  with  an  enrollment  of 
from  twenty-five  to  fifty  pupils  average  58  per  cent  retardation,  and 
those  with  an  enrollment  of  from  fifty  to  seventy  pupils  have  62  per  cent 
retardation,  which  indicates  clearly  that  one  teacher  cannot  cope  success- 
fully under  such  heavy  enrollment. 


86 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


87 


TABLE    4.       PERCENTAGES    OF    RETARDED    CHILDREN    IN    DIFFERENT 

TYPES  OF  LANE  COUNTY  RURAL  SCHOOLS  GIVEN  BY  GRADES; 

ALL   ARE    FROM    ONE-TEACHER    SCHOOLS    SAVE   THE 

70  TO  200  PUPIL  GROUP 


No.  OF  PUPILS  IN  SCHOOL 


PER  CENT  RETARDATION  IN  EACH  GRADE 


i  I 

II 

HI 

IV 

V 

1  VI 

VII 

VIII  ; 

All 

70  to 
50  to 
25  to 
15  to 
3  to 

200 
70 
50 
25 
15 

(one  teacher)  
(one  teacher)  
(one  teacher)  
(one  teacher)  
(one  teacher)  

27 
!  38 
38 

19 

35 
49 

42 
75 
46 

36 
61 
45 
53 
50 

63 
63 
66 

48 
52 

65 
68 
53 
52 
60 

52 
64 
66 

:  38 

52 

39 
78 
86 
52 
75 

'  56  i 
!  67  ! 
61  | 

!  75  i 

i  75  i 

45 
62 
58 
50 
51 

All 

29 

46 

46 

59 

61 

i  •>' 

59 

!  65 

51 

In  concluding  this  chapter  it  should  be  said  that  there  is  a  rapidly 
growing  number  of  rural  schools,  both  elementary  and  secondary,  in 
Lane  County,  which  are  well  equipped,  have  adequate  teaching  staffs, 
and  which  are  offering  and  giving  excellent  instruction  in  a  satisfactorily 
wide  range  of  subjects.  Each  of  these  schools  has  become  the  center  for 
united  community  effort  and  activity  which  has  been  of  the  highest  value 
to  the  best  type  of  social  development.  Lane  County  is  justly  proud  of 
these  for  they  have  contributed  a  large  share  to  making  rural  life  as 
attractive  as  that  found  in  the  city,  and  in  doing  this,  they  have  indicated 
in  large  measure  what  may  be  expected  throughout  the  county  under 
a  system  of  county  school  administration  which  equalizes  rural  conditions 
everywhere. 

CHAPTER    4— BUILDINGS,    GROUNDS,    EQUIPMENT    AND 
MISCELLANEOUS  ITEMS 

An  extensive  array  of  statistics  concerning  the  buildings,  grounds 
and  equipment  of  the  Lane  County  rural  schools  has  been  gathered 
during  the  year  by  means  of  reports  and  personal  visitation.  This 
material  is  far  too  extensive  to  publish  in  detail,  but  there  are  a  number 
of  points  which  appear  to  be  significant  in  summary  form. 

The  whole  number  of  organized  elementary  school  districts  for  the 
years  1915-16  is  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine.  Within  these  districts 
four  hundred  and  twenty-seven  school  rooms  were  in  operation.  There 
are  twenty  district  and  seven  union  high  schools,  two  private  schools, 
several  business  and  musical  "colleges,"  and  a  Bible  University  located 
within  the  county.  The  State  University  of  Oregon  is  located  at  Eugene, 
the  county  seat,  and  the  State  Agricultural  College  is  in  a  neighboring 
county  at  Corvallis.  In  1915-16,  there  were  forty-two  districts  having 
six  months  school,  seventeen  having  seven  months  school,  eighty-four 
having  eight  months  school,  and  forty-six  with  nine  months  school. 
During  the  previous  year  but  thirty-three  districts  had  nine  months 
school. 

The  school  buildings  are,  almost  without  exception,  of  frame  con- 
struction. There  were  eight  new  buildings  going  up  during  the  year, 
and  under  the  stimulus  of  the  standardization  movement,  many  others 
were  in  the  progress  of  reconstruction.  It  is  impossible  to  make  any 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


ALL  THE   NEWER  SCHOOL  BUILDINGS  ARE   PROPERLY  LIGHTED 

satisfactory  general  statement  concerning  the  adequacy  of  the  building 
construction  of  the  various  county  school  houses.  They  represent  the 
different  types  and  different  ideals  of  more  than  twenty  years.  Many 
of  the  newer  ones  are  excellent  examples  of  well-lighted,  well-heated, 
and  well-ventilated  schoolrooms.  Some  of  the  older  ones,  which  are 
not  always  in  the  poorer  districts,  are  too  faulty  to  risk  the  English 
language  in  adequate  description. 

The  lighting  and  (possibilities  of)  ventilation  on  the  whole  are  good, 
and  many  changes  are  being  made  to  improve  both.  Fifty-eight  schools 
report  facilities  for  evening  lighting,  of  which  eighteen  are  good,  twenty- 
eight  medium  and  twelve  poor.  The  majority  of  schools  in  all  classes 
of  districts  could  benefit  greatly  by  more  frequent  opening  of  all  the 
doors  and  windows  for  brief  periods  of  fresh  air  flushing.  A  summary 
of  conditions  is  exhibited  in  the  following  table: 

TABLE    5.       LIGHTING    AND    HEATING    FACILITIES    IN    LANE    COUNTY 

RURAL   SCHOOLS 

Light  from  one   side   in 25  rooms 

Light  from  two  sides  in 110  rooms 

Light  from  three  sides  in 10  rooms 

Light  from  four  sides  in 3  rooms 

Light   from    right   side   in 82  rooms 

Heat  by  unjacketed  stove  in 60  rooms 

Heat  by  jacketed  stove  in 80  rooms 

Heat   by   furnace   in 12  rooms 

Heat  by  steam  in 4  rooms 

Heat  by  Smith  system  in 10  rooms 

Heat  by  Waterbury  system  in 4  rooms 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


89 


With  respect  to  washing-  and  drinking  facilities  it  may  be  said  that 
every  variety  known  to  man  is  used  somewhere  in  the  county.  There  is 
a  distinct  and  growing  tendency  toward  sanitary  washing.  Seventy-six 
schools  are  using  individual  towels,  five  schools  are  using  paper  towels, 
and  thirty-two  schools  report  the  use  of  common  towels.  The  variety 
of  water  supply  includes,  covered  filter,  well,  bubbling  force  pump, 
spring,  city  water,  creek,  cemented  well,  filtered  cistern,  and  tank. 
Many  schools  are  fortunate  in  the  possession  of  the  purest  spring  water 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  school.  A  large  number  have  installed 
the  Hardin  pump,  which  affords  a  very  satisfactory  bubbling  fountain. 
Seventy-six  schools  report  the  use  of  individual  drinking  cups  as  against 
nine  which  use  the  common  drinking  cup. 

Possibly  the  most  severe  criticism  to  be  made  against  regular  equip- 
ment to  be  found  in  Lane  County  schools,  would  fall  upon  the  seating 
facilities.  There  are  very  few  schools  which  are  using  adjustable  seats 
which  have  been  properly  adjusted  to  the  physical  statures  of  the 
occupants.  The  seats,  moreover,  very  frequently  have  not  been  placed 
properly  to  secure  the  best  light.  Many  schools  still  use  the 
out-of-date  double  seats.  One  hundred  and  forty-three  schools 
report  ample  seating  facilities  against  fourteen  which  have  an  insuf- 
ficient supply.  There  has  been  a  wide-spread  effort  to  increase  the 


THE    OLD    TYPE    OF    BUILDING    STILL    PERSISTS    IN    MANY    DISTRICTS 


90 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


attractiveness  of  the  rural 
school  by  the  use  of  mural 
decorations  and  the  presence 
of  potted  plants  within  the 
schoolroom.  Many  of  the 
schools  have  musical  instru- 
ments. Seventy-seven  report 
organs,  and  six  pianos.  The 
school  grounds  in  many  of 
the  schools  are  exceedingly 
attractive  and  with  a  little 
expenditure  of  money  could 
be  made  to  exhibit  a  high 
degree  of  natural  beauty. 
The  school  grounds  average, 
and  the  majority  actually 
are,  about  one  acre  in  size. 
About  one-half  of  them  are 
inclosed  by  fences,  and  about 
60  per  cent  of  the  schools 
have  walks,  board  or  cement. 
Nearly  all  of  the  school  grounds  have  trees;  sixty  have  flower  beds;  but 
despite  the  required  teaching  of  agriculture,  only  fourteen  report  vegetable 
gardens.  Two-thirds  of  the  rural  schools  have  cloak  rooms,  one-half 
having  two.  Libraries  and  teachers'  rooms  are  practically  unknown. 


THE  HARDIN  PUMP —  A  LANE  COUNTY 
INVENTION 


MODERN   SCHOOL   BUILDING  IN   DANISH   SETTLEMENT   NEAR   EUGENE 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


91 


There  are  naturally  no  apparatus  rooms,  for  teaching  aids,  outside  of 
maps,  are  seldom  used,  and  over  one-third  of  the  schools  have  no 
apparatus  whatever. 

There  has  been  a  distinct  playground  movement  in  the  last  few  years, 
which  has  resulted  in  the  construction  of  a  number  of  well-built  play 
sheds,  which  are  quite  necessary,  owing  to  the  long  rainy  season.  Basket- 
ball is  popular  when  grounds  are  present,  but  running  games  and 
elementary  baseball  predominate  during  the  play  periods.  Many  schools 
are  adding  play  apparatus.  The  giant  stride,  teeter  boards  and  swings 
are  in  greatest  numbers,  but  such  pieces  as  the  turning-bar  and 
merry-go-round  are  not  infrequent. 

The  school  law  provides  a  special  county  tax  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  general  school  library  fund,  which  must  not  be  less  than  ten  cents 
per  school  census  child.  In  1914-15,  $651.21  was  paid  out  for  library 
books,  which  were  distributed  according  to  the  number  of  children  in 
each  district.  The  fund  does  not  provide  many  books  each  year  for  the 
smaller  schools,  but  small  libraries  have  been  accumulating  gradually. 
Little  system  has  been  shown  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  schools  in 
selecting,  organizing  or  caring  for  their  books.  A  number  have  taken 
advantage  of  the  State  traveling  libraries  which  may  be  obtained  on 
application.  Considerable  variation  exists  among  the  schools  as  to  the 
number  of  books  in  the  library,  the  newer  schools  ordinarily  possessing 
fewer  books.  A-  summary  follows : 


ALL  STANDARD  SCHOOLS  HAVE  AT  LEAST  THREE  PIECES  OF 
PLAY  APPARATUS 


92          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


TABLE  G.   NUMBER  OF  BOOKS  IN  LANE  COUNTY  RURAL  SCHOOL 

LIBRARIES 

No.    of   books 0-25          25-50          50-100          100-200          200-300          over  300 

No.    of    schools 22  31  46  30  9  11 

The  most  significant  phase  of  school  equipment  and  buildings  in 
Lane  County  from  the  standpoint  of  the  school  world  outside  is  embraced 
in  what  is  known  as  the  "Standardization"  movement.  This  work  was 
begun  some  five  years  ago  under  the  supervisory  system.  A  certain 
number  of  points  of  efficiency  were  set  as  the  standard  for  every  rural 
school  to  attain.  Upon  the  attainment  of  these,  a  school  rally  was  held 
and  a  pennant  bearing  the  label  "Standard  School"  was  awarded  to 
the  deserving  school.  Under  the  stimulus  of  the  supervisors  the  move- 
ment spread  rapidly  and  schools  which  for  years  had  rested  in  a  state 
of  absolute  quiescence  suddenly  came  to  life  and  made  the  changes 
necessary  to  become  standardized.  Two  years  ago  the  State  Department 
of  Education  assumed  charge  of  this  movement,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  under  the  stress  of  standardization,  more  has  been  accomplished 
in  the  way  of  equipment  changes  in  the  rural  schools  than  could  be 
brought  about  by  decades  of  argument. 

The  standards  are  gradually  being  raised  as  the  majority  of  schools 
approach  them.  During  the  years  1915-16,  there  were  sixty-one  rural 
schools  in  Lane  County  which  became  standardized.  A  copy  of  standard 
requirements  for  the  past  two  years  follows: 

REQUIREMENTS   FOR  A    STANDARD   SCHOOL 
STATE   OF  OREGON,    1914-1915 

Flag — Must    be     flying,     weather    per-  Outbuildings — At  least   two  good  ones, 

mitting.  to  be  sanitary  at  all  times  and  free 

School  House— Properly  lighted.  from  marks. 

Equipment— Teacher's  desk  and  chair  ;  Teacher— Must  maintain  good  order  at 

desks    for    pupils    properly    adapted  all   times,   supervise  the  playground; 

and     placed ;     suitable     blackboards  ;  have  her  work  well  prepared  ;  follow 

window  shades  in  good  condition.  state  course  of  study ;   take  at  least 

one    educational    journal ;    have    pro- 

Heatmg      and      VenMatmg  —  Jacketed  gram  posted  in   room;   keep  register 

stove     properly     situated,     minimum  in  good  condition ;  be  neat  in  attire. 

requirement ;  window  boards  or  some 

other  approved  method  of  ventilating.  Li^-ary—GooA  selection  of  books  from 

_  .  .  fetclLG        llSt.  t^clSG        IOr        LllG        DOOKS. 

Rooms — Attractive  at  all  times.  Books  kept  upright  in  good  condition 

Standard  Picture — One  new  one,  unless  and  recorded  according  to  rules  spec- 

three     are     already     in     the     room,  ified    by    Oregon    State    Library    and 

framed.  required  by  law. 

Grounds — To  be  clean,  free  from  paper,        Attendance — Average    92    per    cent    for 
etc.     At  least  three  features  of  play  year  and  not  to  exceed  2  per  cent  in 

apparatus.     Walks  if  necessary.  tardiness  per  year. 

Sanitation — Pure  drinking  water,  either       Length   of    Term — Not   less   than   eight 
drinking  fountain  or  covered  tank  and  months  of  school  each  year, 

individual,  family  or  paper  towels. 
As  soon  as  the  district  fulfills  any  requirement  it  will  be  marked  with  a  star. 

When  all  the  requirements  are  fulfilled  a  suitable  pennant  or  certificate  will  be 

awarded  by   the  county  superintendent. 

ADOPTED  BY  THE  STATE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 
AUGUST  5,   1914 

Two  years  ago  the  State  Department  undertook  the  standardization 
of  Oregon  high  schools  in  a  similar  fashion.  The  results  have  exceeded 
the  fondest  expectations.  Lane  County  became  the  banner  county  of 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


93 


the  State,  with  nineteen  standardized  high  schools.  Standards  were  set 
for  four-year,  three-year  and  two-year  high  schools,  although  two  and 
three-year  schools  have  been  practically  eliminated.  In  order  to  become 
a  standard  four-year  high  school,  each  high  school  must  offer  four  years 
of  work;  have  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  reference  books  in 
the  library,  chosen  from  the  State  Library  lists  for  high  schools;  one 
standard  encyclopedia  and  a  sufficient  number  of  dictionaries.  Each 
must  have  proper  laboratory  equipment  selected  from  the  State  list  for 
each  science  offered.  The  teachers  must  be  graduates  from  standard 
colleges  or  the  equivalent,  and  all  high  schools  must  follow  the  approved 
course  of  study.  Fifteen  units  must  be  required  for  graduation,  and 
at  least  forty  minutes  allowed  for  each  recitation. 

Following  the  introduction  of  this  movement,  has  come  an  unprece- 
dented rush  of  orders  for  books  and  equipment,  and  Lane  County 
high  schools  have  had  the  banner  year  of  their  existence.  Table  7 
gives  a  summary  description  of  Lane  County  standard  high  schools. 

TABLE    7 


in 

-!-> 
_o 
"E 

2 

i* 

0 

h 

O 

3o 
1  9 

NAME 

Number  of 
School  Dist 

Number  of 
High  Schoc 
Teachers 

Total  En- 
rollment in 
High  Schoo 

m      >> 

«M    =  —  ^ 

3  cS'w  So 

• 

O  cj  >> 

III 

rt  G.2 
>^W 

Value  of 
Apparatus 
Physics 

Number  of 
Standard  E 
in  High  Scl 
Library 

Coburg    

43 

3 

34 

$   111.00 

$    122.00 

$   197.00 

300 

Cottage  Grove  

45 

7 

45 

81.00 

84.00 

316.00 

250 

Creswell 

40 

3 

41 

75.00 

75.00 

150.00 

344 

U-3 

2 

9 

75  00 

75  00 

250 

Dorena 

93 

20 

75.00 

75.00 

250 

Elmira 

U-4 

3 

38 

75.00 

75.00 

280 

Eugene    

4 

23 

604 

283.00 

539.00 

1,093.00 

700 

Eugene    

12 

2 

22 

75.00 

75.00 

250 

Florence 

97 

2 

40 

75.00 

75.00 

175.00 

260 

Irving 

86 

1 

16 

90.00 

75.00 

150.00 

250 

Junction    City    

69 

3 

76 

75.00 

75.00 

175.00 

250 

126 

2 

8 

75.00 

250 

Lorane    

U-2 

1 

32 

153.00 

153.00 

250 

Mapleton     
Pleasant    Hill    

32 
U-l 

1 

2 

14 
50 

75.00 

85.00 

75.00 

150.00 
150.00 

250 

250 

Springfield 

19 

6 

131 

75.00 

75.00 

250.00 

250 

Thurston 

U-7 

o 

20 

75.00 

75.00 

250 

Walker 

U-6 

1 

13 

75.00 

150.00 

250 

UK 

2 

95 

75  00 

250 

CHAPTER  5— STATE,  COUNTY,  AND   DISTRICT   FUNCTIONS 

The  school  census  of  Lane  County  for  the  year  ending  June  16,  1916, 
gives  a  total  of  11,721  children  between  four  and  twenty  years  of  age. 
Of  these  5,850  are  boys  and  5,871  are  girls.  How  properly  to  educate 
this  group  so  that  it  may  best  serve  and  conserve  the  present  social 
organization,  and  most  happily  procure  the  welfare  of  its  individual 
members,  is  the  problem  which  confronts  those  who  have  charge  of  the 
public  school  system  of  the  State  of  Oregon.  This  problem  is  not  simple, 
for  the  activities  of  the  social  state  and  the  interests  of  the  individual 


94 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


have  within  recent  years  attained  a  high  degree  of  complexity,  which 
has  necessitated  a  similarly  complicated  organization  for  the  formal 
administration  of  education. 

Properly  to  appreciate  the  complexity  of  the  school  problem  in  Lane 
County,  and  better  to  understand  the  strong  and  weak  points  in  the 
present  school  organization,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the  existing 
plan  of  administration  in  some  detail,  and  to  examine  it  in  the  light 
of  contemporary  aims  and  achievements  in  other  parts  of  the  State 
and  the  country. 

It  is  impossible  to  discuss  Lane  as  an  isolated  county,  for  in  America 
education  is  everywhere  conceived  to  be  an  affair  State-wide  in  scope 
and  responsibility,  and  in  the  State  of  Oregon,  as  elsewhere,  the  first 
control  of  school  activities  rests  with  the  State  Legislature.  This  body 
has  delegated,  and  continues  to  delegate,  from  year  to  year,  such 
authority  as  may  seem  desirable  to  the  several  subordinate  units  of 
control  which  are  best  adapted  to  specific  administrative  control.  In 
actual  practice,  control  of  the  various  educational  functions  in  Oregon 
is  now  vested  in  agencies,  which  may  for  the  most  part  be  classified 
under  the  headings  of  State,  County,  and  School  District,  according  to 
the  limits  of  the  area  immediately  concerned. 

Many  school  functions,  such  as  the  certification  of  teachers,  are  con- 
trolled by  the  State  as  a  unit;  others,  such  as  the  creation  of  school 
districts,  by  the  county;  and  still  others,  such  as  hiring  of  teachers,  by 
the  school  district.  As  the  whole  problem  of  school  administration  is 
intimately  connected  with  the  disposition  of  control  of  educational  func- 


A    SCHOOL    RALLY. 


SCORES    OF    COMMUNITY    MEETINGS    LIKE     THIS 
ARE    HELD    EVERY    YEAR 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          95 

tions,  it  will  be  well  first  of  all  to  indicate  the  general  nature  of  the 
distribution  of  power  affected  in  Oregon.  The  following  summary 
exhibits  the  more  important  educational  functions  as  they  have  been 
delegated  by  legislative  enactment  to  the  State,  county,  and  school 
district,  respectively : 

I.      STATE    FUNCTIONS 

1.  Prescription  of  rules  for  general  government  of  schools. 

2.  Gathering  and  publication  of  school  statistics. 

3.  Issuance  of  teaching  certificates. 

4.  Preparation  of  reading-circle  work  and  rules. 

5.  Examination  of  eighth  grade  graduates. 

6.  Examination   of  teachers. 

7.  Preparation   of  common  school  course  of  study. 

8.  Adoption   of  common   school   textbooks. 

9.  Inspection,   supervision,   and  standardization  of  schools. 
10.  Recommendation  of  laws  to  Legislature. 

II.      COUNTY    FUNCTIONS 

1.  Creation  of  school  districts. 

2.  Enforcement  of  course  of  study. 

3.  Supervision   of  rural   schools. 

4.  Conducting   of   examinations. 

5.  Holding  of  county  and  local  institutes. 

6.  Control  and  canvas  of  specified  school  elections. 

7.  Control  of  county  high  school  fund. 

8.  Keeping  of   school   records. 

9.  Levying  of  prescribed  taxes  and  making  prescribed  apportionments. 
10.  Registration  of  certificates. 

III.      DISTRICT   FUNCTIONS 

1.  Hiring  of  teachers. 

2.  Control  of  school,  other  than  course  of  study. 

3.  Levying  and  collection  of  taxes. 

4.  Leasing  and   building  school   houses. 

5.  Establishment  of  kindergarten  and  evening  schools. 

6.  Loaning  of  textbooks. 

7.  Furnishing  of  school  supplies. 

8.  Issuance   of   bonds. 

9.  Transportation  of  pupils. 

10.    Consolidation  with  other  districts. 

The  question  which  now  arises  is,  how  does  the  distribution  of 
educational  functions  according  to  the  foregoing  summary,  comport  with 
American  ideal  of  universal  education,  which  provides  equal  opportunities 
for  "all  the  children  of  all  the  people,"  and  which  has  been  embodied  in 
Oregon  in  the  constitutional  provision  which  calls  "for  the  establishment 
of  a  uniform  and  general  system  of  common  schools?"  From  the  admin- 
istrative point  of  view  this  important  question  may  be  considered  under 
three  major,  albeit  overlapping,  topics:  (1)  the  degree  of  centralization 
attained;  (2)  the  county  organization;  (3)  the  administration  of  finances. 
To  each  of  these  topics  will  be  devoted  one  of  the  following  chapters. 

CHAPTER  6— CENTRALIZATION  OF  AUTHORITY 
"It  is  today  a  settled  conviction  of  the  people  of  our  different 
American  states  that  the  provision  of  a  liberal  system  of  free  education 
for  the  children  of  the  State  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the 
State,  and  that  such  education  contributes  very  markedly  to  the  moral 
uplift  of  the  people,  to  a  higher  civic  virtue,  and  to  increased  economic 
returns  to  the  State."  (Cubberley,  E.  P.,  Public  School  Administration, 
1916.)  The  growth  of  this  conception  of  education  has  been  paralleled 
by  increasing  centralization  of  authority  in  school  administration,  by 
virtue  of  which  the  control  of  school  activities  has  been  shifted  gradually 


96          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


from  small  to  larger  units.  Thus,  parental  control  in  the  certification 
of  teachers  has  yielded  to  the  district,  the  district  to  the  township,  the 
township  to  the  county,  and  finally  the  county  to  the  State.  Suet' 
transfer  of  power  in  general  has  been  in  the  interest  of  better  organiza- 
tion and  more  effective  administration,  and  with  it  have  come  the 
attainment  of  compulsory  attendance  of  children  of  school  age,  the 
lengthened  school  term,  the  enrichment  of  the  curriculum,  better  methods 
of  instruction,  and  more  adequate  material  equipment. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  control  of  many  items  of  educational 
endeavor  may  best  be  left  to  the  district,  or  even  to  the  home,  for  local 
support  of  the  schools  is  a  most  important  consideration  in  their  ultimate 
welfare.  Moreover,  the  educative  processes  must  be  adapted  to  individual 
pupils  and  to  individual  communities,  and  the  danger  of  uniformity 
where  individual  variation  is  demanded  is  one  which  is  not  unlikely  to 
accompany  centralization  of  authority.  Let  us,  then,  examine  some  of 
the  more  important  functions  which  have  been  listed  in  the  preceding 
chapter  with  a  view  of  determining  whether  or  not  the  children  of 
Lane  County  are  receiving  the  benefits  of  properly  distributed  control 
of  school  power. 

The  State  functions,  (1)  prescription  of  rules  for  general  governmnet 
of  schools,  and  (2)  gathering  and  publication  of  school  statistics,  are 
properly  located,  and,  considering  the  present  type  of  State  organization, 
surprisingly  well  carried  out.  The  composition  of  the  State  Board  of 
Education  on  the  basis  of  membership,  the  political  election  of  the  State 
Superintendent,  and  the  excessive  number  of  State  boards  which  have 
to  do  with  educational  matters,  are  all  open  to  criticism.  Although  the 
present  personnel  of  the  State  department  is  fortunately  excellent,  the 
lack  of  centralization  of  the  various  State  boards  is  without  question 
detrimental  to  the  State's  best  educational  interests. 

The  issuing  of  State  certificates  quite  properly  rests  with  the  State 
Department  of  Education,  and  in  execution  is  a  marked  advance  over 
conditions  in  many  states.  The  State  Superintendent  has  discretionary 
powers  with  regard  to  accepting  credentials  from  other  states  and  with 
regard  to  the  issuance  of  certificates  for  the  teaching  of  special  subjects, 
such  as  manual  training,  music,  etc.  Certification  under  State  control 
has  worked  admirably  in  Oregon  and  has  tended  steadily  toward  the 
raising  of  teaching  standards  until  Oregon  ranks  among  the  very  fore- 
most states  of  the  Union  in  this  respect. 

The  State  reading  circle  work,  although  legally  compulsory  for  a 
large  number  of  teachers,  has  suffered  in  the  past  from  lack  of 
organization.  Each  teacher  affected,  supposedly,  satisfied  the  county 
superintendent  before  the  annual  registration  of  certificates,  but,  until 
recently,  the  very  limited  sale  of  the  required  books  in  the  State  indicated 
that  only  a  small  percentage  of  teachers  were  actually  doing  the  reading 
circle  work.  At  present  the  University  of  Oregon  has  charge  of  most 
of  this  work,  and  by  supervising  the  reading  has  made  it  practically 
universal. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          97 


The  assumption  of  power  by  the  State,  which  has  resulted  in  a  system 
of  uniform  examination  for  eighth  grade  graduates,  is  an  illustration 
of  misdirected  centralization  of  power.  In  the  earlier  development  of 
the  schools,  there  may  have  been  certain  advantages  attached  to  the 
State  examination,  but  at  the  present  stage  of  development  this  function 
clearly  belongs  to  more  local  supervision.  The  consensus  of  the  best 
educational  opinion  and  experimentation  indicates  that  the  use  of  the 
ordinary  memory  examination  for  promotion  purposes  is  decidedly  ques- 
tionable at  best,  while  legitimate  uses  of  the  examination  for  purposes 
of  review  or  stimulus  to  work  are  more  effectively  administered  by  local 
control.  We  found  eighth  grade  teachers  in  all  parts  of  the  county  who 
were  teaching  solely  with  the  aim  of  getting  as  many  pupils  as  possible 
"by"  the  eighth  grade  examination.  The  majority  of  them  admitted, 
indeed  insisted,  that  the  chief  aim  of  teaching  was  being  subordinated, 
but  added  that  as  their  success  as  teachers  was  estimated  by  their  ability 
to  get  pupils  successfully  through  this  examination  they  had  no  alternative 
but  to  yield  to  its  stultifying  influence.  Moreover,  as  opportunity  for 
eighth  grade  pupils  to  enter  upon  a  high  school  education  depends 
upon  passing  the  eighth  grade  examinations,  success  in  passing  it, 
is  no  less  essential  to  them.  It  is  interesting  to  note  what  has  been  the 
actual  influence  of  the  State  eighth  grade  examination  upon  the  number 
of  pupils  qualifying  for  high  school  entrance.  This  is  shown  by  the 
record  of  failures  and  successes  which  have  been  made  in  Lane  County 
in  attempts  to  pass  this  examination  during  the  last  few  years.  This 
year's  record  is  better  than  those  of  previous  years.  (See  Table  8.) 

TABLE     8.       NUMBER    OF    LANE    COUNTY    PUPILS    WHO    PASSED    AND 

FAILED    IN    THE    STATE   UNIFORM   EIGHTH   GRADE 

EXAMINATIONS   IN    1915-16 

Number  attempting  792 

Number  passing 494 

Number    conditioned    156 

Number  failing .'.   142 

The  age  grade  distribution  in  Table  2,  of  Chapter  3,  shows  that 
11  per  cent  of  the  school  population  in  1914-J.5  were  in  the  eighth  grade, 
but  only  a  few  over  5  per  cent  received  eighth  grade  diplomas  in  1914. 

The  sudden  stopping  or  retardation  of  the  educational  career  of  from 
one-fourth  to  one-third  of  the  public  school  product  by  the  interposition 
of  an  artificial  examination,  whether  entirely  due  to  the  examination 
itself  or  not,  is  administratively  inexcusable.  It  clogs  the  educational 
machinery,  deprives  children  of  just  educational  opportunity  in  the  high 
schools,  and  robs  the  State  of  a  better  citizenry.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  present  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  realizes 
the  situation  and  proposes  to  combat  it  by  giving  examinations  in  which 
the  pupil  may  have  his  book  open. 

It  is  undoubtedly  well  to  have  the  examination  of  teachers  for 
certification  controlled  by  the  State.  Much  also  may  be  said  for  the 
preparation  of  a  common  school  course  of  study,  and  for  the  State 
adoption  of  textbooks.  Certainly  the  State's  endeavor  here  has  given 


98          RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

the  advantages  of  expert  service  to  many  local  areas  which  otherwise 
would  have  had  only  meagre  guidance.  On  the  other  hand,  the  State 
requirement  of  uniformity  in  following  the  course  of  study  transcends 
the  rights  of  many  districts  well  qualified  to  organize  a  course  of  study 
more  peculiarly  adapted  to  their  own  interests. 

The  State  Superintendent  is  given  considerable  power  to  inspect, 
supervise,  and  standardize  schools.  This  is  as  it  should  be,  for  he  is 
the  actual  head  of  the  public  school  system  and  should  have  the  most 
extensive  powers  in  these  functions.  More  ample  provision  should  be 
made  for  carrying  on  this  type  of  work  by  the  addition  of  members  to 
the  State  force.  The  exceptional  record  which  has  been  made  by  the 
State  department  in  Lane  County  is  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation, 
and  if  in  addition  to  his  present  powers  the  State  Superintendent 
had  authority  to  grant  financial  aid  to  school  districts  which  made 
exceptional  endeavor,  his  influence  for  good  would  be  vastly  extended. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  functions  more  specifically  under  county 
control.  We  are  immediately  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  county  has 
few  significant  powers  and  relatively  little  control  of  the  educational 
system  within  its  borders.  Seven  of  the  functions  mentioned:  (1)  En- 
forcement of  course  of  study,  (2)  conducting  of  examinations,  (3)  school 
elections,  (4)  control  of  county  high  school  fund,  (5)  keeping  of  school 
records,  (6)  control  of  specified  taxes  and  apportionments,  and  (7)  regis- 
tration of  certificates,  are  matters  which  relate  almost  wholly  to  routine 
and  clerical  service.  The  other  three:  (1)  creation  of  school  districts, 
(2)  supervision  of  rural  schools,  and  (3)  holding  of  county  and  local 
institutes,  constitute  the  narrow  scope  of  constructive  county  effort,  and 
while  considerable  praiseworthy  advance  has  been  made,  particularly 
through  the  supervisory  system,  the  county  as  a  whole  is  so  hampered  by 
lack  of  centralization,  paucity  of  funds,  and  deficiency  of  initiative  power, 
that  little  advance  can  be  expected  in  the  future  under  the  present  form 
of  administration.  As  compared  with  the  advantages  attached  to  city 
school  administration,  or  to  what  is  known  as  a  "county  system,"  the 
Lane  County  rural  districts  must  continue  to  suffer  until  a  marked 
administrative  change  is  brought  about. 

Compare  now  the  functions  of  the  school  district  with  those  of  the 
county.  Lane  County,  like  all  of  the  Oregon  counties,  has  what  is 
known  as  the  "district  system,"  in  which  control  of  the  most  important 
educational  functions  is  vested  in  the  relatively  small  school  district. 
Within  the  county,  there  are  some  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  active 
school  districts,  each  of  which  has  practically  unrestricted  independence 
in  the  selection  of  its  teachers,  the  equipment  of  its  school,  and  the 
specific  education  of  its  pupils.  Insofar  as  this  state  of  affairs  promotes 
local  school  support  and  permits  of  adaptability  of  State  or  county 
uniformity,  it  is  well,  but  inasmuch  as  it  tends  to  deprive  many  individual 
pupils  of  proper  educational  opportunity,  it  is  seriously  defective,  and 
necessitates  reorganization.  What  this  should  be  will  be  considered  in 
the  following  chapter. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY          99 

CHAPTER  7— COUNTY  ORGANIZATION 

Lane  County  is  approximately  the  size  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 
One  hundred  and  eighty-nine  school  districts  have  been  organized  within 
its  borders  for  purposes  of  support  and  control  of  local  school  affairs. 
We  have  noted  that  each  of  these  districts  controls  in  large  measure 
the  education  of  the  children  who  live  within  its  borders.  If  each  district 
were  intellectually  and  financially  qualified  to  administer  a  system  of 
schools  which  would  measure  up  to  the  educational  interests  of  State 
and  individual,  the  present  system  would  be  an  ideal  one.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  the  greatest  variation,  both  in  leadership  and  economic 
wealth  exists  among  the  numerous  districts. 

Districts  which  have  over  one  thousand  children  of  school  age  in 
the  State  of  Oregon  are  known  as  districts  of  the  first  class.  There 
is  one  such  district  in  Lane  County.  This  is  the  city  of  Eugene,  with 
three  thousand  and  eighty  children  of  school  age,  and  within  which 
exists  a  standard  school  system.  All  districts  with  more  than  two 
hundred  and  less  than  one  thousand  children  of  school  age  are  known 
as  districts  of  the  second  class.  There  are  six  districts  of  the  second 
class  in  Lane  County:  Cottage  Grove,  with  seven  hundred  and  sixteen 
children;  Springfield,  with  six  hundred  and  eighty-three  children;  Junc- 
tion City,  with  three  hundred  and  seventy-six  children;  Marcola,  with 
three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  children;  Coburg,  with  two  hundred  and 
twenty-one  children,  and  Creswell,  with  two  hundred  and  nineteen 
children.  Education  flourishes  with  varying  degrees  of  success  within 
these  several  towns,  but  withal  may  be  said  to  be,  if  not  everywhere 
praiseworthy,  at  least  acceptable.  Each  district  contains  by  way  of 
property  valuation  and  number  of  children  the  foundation  for  the 
organization  of  a  relatively  independent  school  system. 

All  districts  with  less  than  two  hundred  children  of  school  age  are 
known  as  districts  of  the  third  class.  There  are  one  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  districts  of  the  third  class  in  Lane  County,  a  majority  of 
which  have  neither  sufficient  property  nor  enough  children  to  support 
independently  organized  and  administered  schools.  Fifty-five  of  these 
districts  of  the  third  class  have  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  children  of 
school  age;  sixty-two  of  them  have  from  ten  to  twenty-five  children; 
while  eighteen  of  them  have  ten  or  less' than  ten  children.  It  is  evident 
to  the  most  casual  observer  that  children  who  live  in  the  richer  and 
more  densely  populated  school  districts  may  profit  by  an  organization 
provided  with  an  expert  superintendent,  special  supervision  and  special 
teachers,  and  enjoy  the  benefits  of  modern  equipment  and  a  full  curri- 
culum, which  at  present  are  denied  to  boys  and  girls  who  live  in  the 
more  rural  districts.  This  is  the  problem  that  county  educational 
organization  is  supposed  to  master.  As  it  is  the  chief  problem  of  rural 
education,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  type  of  county  organization 
which  is  attempting  to  cope  with  it  in  the  State  of  Oregon,  and  of 
which  the  organization  in  Lane  County  is  typical. 


too 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


FIGURE  A.      LANE   COUNTY  ONE-SIDED  EDUCATIONAL,   SYSTEM 


THE    AVENUES    OF    MOST    DIRECT    CONTROL    OR    CORRELATION    ARE 

INDICATED  BY  THE  HEAVIER  LINES.      THE  DISTRICT  SCHOOL 

BOARD  STANDS  OUT  AS  THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  UNIT 

OF  CONTROL.     THE  COUNTY  SCHOOL  OFFICIALS 

ARE  ONLY  INDIRECTLY  IN  CONTROL 

OF  COUNTY  EDUCATION 

The  numerous  county  educational  officers  and  boards  with  their 
respective  organization  and  duties  are  shown  in  the  accompanying  outline. 
(See  Figure  A.)  Without  going  into  the  detail  of  the  multiplicity  of 
interests  involved,  it  may  be  said  in  a  few  words  that  the  present 
system  is  an  excellent  example  of  lack  of  centralization  and  proper 
distribution  of  authority.  Seven  different  boards  do  the  work  which 
might  well  be  centered  in  one.  The  present  membership  of  some  of  the 
most  important  boards  is  composed  of  county  officials  who  are  elected 
for,  and  whose  time  is  chiefly  devoted  to,  other  than  educational  duties. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  form  of  educational  administration 
which  secures  the  best  results,  is  the  city  type  in  which  the  taxpayers 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY         101 

elect  a  board  of  education,  who,  in  turn,  elect  a  superintendent  of 
schools.  In  opposition  to  this  in  Lane  County,  we  have  the  anomalous 
situation  in  which  the  taxpayers  elect  the  county  superintendent  of 
schools,  who,  in  turn,  appoints  the  educational  board;  thus  the  educa- 
tional board  is  dependent  and  responsible  to  the  county  superintendent 
rather  than  the  reverse,  which  is  the  natural  situation. 

It  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  from  what  has  been  said  and  what 
will  be  said  concerning  the  defective  county  organization,  and  the  rural 
school  situation  in  Lane  County  ranks  lower  than  that  of  the  average 
county  in  the  United  States.  It  does  not.  In  most  respects  it  is 
distinctly  superior  to  the  average  county.  Neither  should  it  be  thought 
that  the  county  superintendent  has  not  rendered  effective  service,  for 
even  under  the  handicap  of  the  present  county  organization,  it  must 
be  said  that  much  has  been  accomplished  for  the  advancement  of  the 
education  of  the  children  of  Lane  County.  But  in  comparison  with  the 
possibilities  of  constructive  work  which  exist  in  a  number  of  states,  and 
which  has  been  accomplished  elsewhere  in  counties  which  have  a  cen- 
tralized organization,  the  present  Lane  County  educational  situation  is 
open  to  severe  criticism. 

Let  us  look  at  the  limits  of  power  which,  at  present,  attend  the 
county  superintendent  of  schools,  and  the  demands  which  are  made 
upon  his  time  in  the  way  of  routine  work.  We  have  already  indicated 
that,  as  compared  with  the  State  or  school  district,  the  county  has  but 
little  power.  The  following  outline  of  the  county  superintendent's  duties 
will  show,  as  nothing  else  can,  why  at  present  he  can  have  but  little 
time  for  other  than  routine  and  clerical  duties,  and  why  with  but  one 
stenographer  and  two  supervisors  he  can  do  little  in  the  way  of 
constructive  work. 

POWERS  AND  DUTIES  OF  COUNTY  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS 
CLERICAL  AND  ROUTINE 

1.  Turn    over    fees    each    month    to    county    treasurer    and    file    receipt    with 
county  clerk. 

2.  Apportion   irreducible   school   fund. 

3.  Make  partial  apportionment  if  district  so  desires. 

4.  Certify   claims   for   expenses   of   blind. 

5.  Apportion  county  school  fund. 

6.  Approve  school  board  convention  expenses. 

7.  Certify  to  the  county  court  cost  of  educating  high  school  pupils. 

8.  Distribute  interest  of  irreducible  school  fund. 

9.  Draw  warrant  for  tuition  when  districts  fail  to  pay. 

10.  Keep  accounts  of  county  treasurer  and  school  districts. 

11.  Keep   record   of   all  purchases   of  land. 

12.  Receive   examination   fees   and    remit    to    State   Superintendent   of    Public 
Instruction. 

13.  Apportion   school   library   fund. 

14.  Make  estimates  on  county  school  fund  and  special  taxes. 

15.  Furnish  list  of  teachers  to  district  truant  officers. 

16.  Keep  record  of  contracts  with  teachers. 

17.  Use  uniform  blanks. 

18.  Post  notices  of  new  districts. 

19.  Notify  districts  of  changes  made  by  district  boundary  board. 

20.  Preserve  ballots  in  consolidation  elections. 

21.  Report  deaf  mutes  and  blind  children 

22.  Transmit  examination  manuscripts  to  State  Superintendent. 

23.  Declare  vacancies  and  call  district  meetings  to  fill   them. 

24.  Report  high  school   non-residents. 

25.  Endorse   State   certificates. 


102         RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

26.  Notify  inhabitants  of  newly  organized  districts. 

27.  Keep  record  of  books  purchased  and  distributed. 

28.  Notify  State   Superintendent  of  result  of  eighth  grade  examinations. 

ADMINISTRATIVE   AND   SUPERVISORY 

1.  Promote   interest  in   schools,   deportment  and  scholarship. 

2.  Select  district  library  books. 

3.  Act  as  supervisor  for  one  supervisory  district. 

4.  Enforce    course    of    study. 

5.  Issue   temporary  county   certificates. 

6.  Approve   entrance   requirement   to   high   schools. 

7.  Certify   to   successful   teaching  experience. 

8.  Require  monthly  reports  trom  teachers  and  district  clerks. 

9.  Conduct  school  fair  work. 

10.  Appoint   examiners  and   conduct   teachers'   examinations. 

11.  Make  report  to  State  Superintendent. 

12.  Hear  and  determine   appeals  from  district  officers  and  teachers. 

13.  Consult  with  directors  in  regard  to  plans  of  school  houses. 

14.  Hold  county  institute,  three  local  institutes,  and  keep  record  of  attendance 
of  teachers. 

15.  May  hold  joint  institute  with   other  counties. 

16.  May  hold  school  board  conventions. 

17.  May  appeal  to  State  Superintendent. 

18.  May  submit  training  school  question  to  vote  of  teachers. 

19.  Appoint  four  members  of  county  educational  board. 

20.  Attend   conventions. 

21.  Appoint   district  librarians. 

22.  Correct  report  of  district  clerks. 

23.  Ex-officio  member  of  county  educational  board,  county  high  school  board, 
district  boundary  board,  county  board  of  examiners,  county  board  of  loans  and 
county  fair  board. 

It  can  be  readily  understood  from  the  foregoing  list  of  duties  that 
the  county  superintendent  is  greatly  handicapped  in  his  endeavor  to 
give  adequate  attention  to  the  individual  needs  of  some  one  hundred 
and  eighty  third-class  districts. 

Let  us  now  suggest  certain  changes  which  are  needed  before  rural 
education  can  become  uniformly  effective.  Two  changes,  general,  but 
marked  in  character,  are  necessary.  First :  More  money  must  be  devoted 
to  rural  education.  This  question  will  be  discussed  in  the  following 
chapter.  Second:  County  organization  must  be  centralized  adminis- 
tratively, and  the  county  authorities  given  more  power  over  rural 
education.  The  county  organization  should  fit  in  directly  between  the 
State  and  district  organization.  At  present  the  county  educational 
system  is  lopsided  as  far  as  the  county  authority  is  concerned. 

Instead  of  this  one-sided  organization  with  its  many  boards,  improper 
distribution  of  authority  and  secondary  control  of  rural  education,  Lane 
County  should  have  a  centralized  county  unit  system,  such  as  is  dis- 
played in  Figure  B.  Under  this  system  of  education  the  authority  of 
the  State,  county  and  school  district  is  integrated  in  the  interests  of 
the  broadest  economy,  and  guarantees  the  individual  welfare  of  every 
child  in  the  State.  Such  a  system  is  embodied  in  the  "county  system," 
which  is  being  urged  by  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
for  adoption  at  the  present  time.  It  is  in  successful  operation  in  a 
number  of  other  states.  In  such  a  system  the  voters  elect  a  county 
board  of  education  directly,  who  in  turn  select  a  county  superintendent, 
going  as  far  afield  as  they  may  desire  to  find  a  qualified  man  and 
paying  whatever  salary  is  requisite,  in  the  same  manner  that  city  school 
superintendents  are  appointed  at  the  present  time. 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


103 


FIGURE    B.      COUNTY   UNIT    EDUCATIONAL    SYSTEM 
Recommended  for  Lane  County 


THE    COUNTY    SUPERINTENDENT    OF    SCHOOLS    IS    THE    CONTROLLING 

AUTHORITY  IN  ALL  RURAL  DISTRICTS.     CITY  OR  OTHER  LARGE 

WEALTHY    DISTRICTS    HAVE    SIMILAR    ORGANIZATION 

UNDER   SEPARATE   DISTRICT   AUTHORITIES 

Under  the  authority  of  the  State  department  and  the  county  board 
of  education,  the  county  superintendent  would  then  exercise  complete 
administrative  control  over  all  rural  districts  which  were  not  separately 
organized.  Provision  would  be  made  for  the  formation  of  separate 
districts  out  of  city  or  other  territory  wealthy  enough  to  maintain  inde- 
pendent schools  of  a  standard  character.  All  auxiliary  officials,  such 
as  local  directors,  truant  officers  and  health  officers,  and  all  auxiliary 


104 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


educational  agencies,  such  as  library,  agricultural  and  extension  work, 
would  act  under  the  direction  of  the  county  authorities.  We  would  then 
have  a  centralized  system  in  which  there  would  be  no  financial  loss 
due  to  duplication  of  work,  and  no  loss  in  school  efficiency  due  to 
dissipation  of  authority.  The  general  organization  of  the  county  unit 
system  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  chart.  It  is  highly  recommended 
for  adoption  in  Lane  County. 

CHAPTER  8— FINANCES 

Numerous  references  have  been  made  in  the  preceding  chapters  to 
the  financial  aspects  of  rural  education.  In  fact,  the  whole  problem  of 
rural  education  is  so  clearly  allied  to  questions  of  financial  support  that 
this  topic  leads  all  others  in  importance  from  the  administrative  point 
of  view.  As  one  goes  from  district  to  district  in  Lane  County,  viewing 
here  a  school  in  most  successful  operation,  there  a  school  indifferently 
conducted,  and  there  again  one  practically  lifeless,  and  at  the  same  time 
makes  inquiry  as  to  the  financial  support  of  each,  it  becomes  clearly 
manifest  that  lack  of  money  is  the  chief  cause  of  failure  wherever  it 
may  occur.  No  school  district  can  hope  to  maintain  an  efficient  corps 
of  teachers,  suitable  buildings,  grounds  and  equipment,  without  furnish- 
ing definitely  substantial  financial  support. 

The  effort  made  by  Lane  County  to  finance  its  education  is  exhibited 
in  Table  9.  The  table  indicates  that  Lane  County  ranks  above  the 
average  Oregon  county  in  the  amount  of  money  spent  per  school  child, 
although  having  less  than  the  average  wealth: 

TABLE  9.      THE  AMOUNT  OF  WEALTH  AND  AMOUNT  OF  EXPENDITURE 
PER   CENSUS   CHILD   IN   VARIOUS   OREGON   COUNTIES 


Lane 
County 

Highest 
Oregon 
County 

Medium 
Oregon 
County 

Lowest 
Oregon 
County 

Wealth  per 
Expenditure 

census   child  
per  census  child.... 

$      4,618.00 
30.70 

$   12,926.00 
66.70 

$      5,700.00 
27.90 

$      3,796.00 
9.50 

It  is  only  when  we  contrast  districts  within  the  county  that  our 
attention  is  drawn  to  the  glaring  inequality  of  educational  opportunity. 
Let  us  examine  the  system  of  taxation  and  apportionment  which  produces 
the  present  unequal  conditions  to  be  found  in  Lane  County.  Each 
district  in  the  county  at  present  receives  funds  from  three  chief  sources. 

1.  State  Irreducible  School  Fund.     This  fund  has  accumulated  from 
the  sales  of  certain  school  land,  escheated  property,  etc.,  and  is  invested 
by   the    State   Land   Board.     The   interest   from   this   fund   is   equal   to 
approximately  6  per  cent  of  all  school  funds,  and  is  divided  among  the 
several  counties  of  the   State  in   proportion  to  the  number  of  children 
between  the  ages  of  four  and  twenty. 

2.  County  School  Fund.     This  fund  is  raised  by  levy  of  a  tax  upon 
all  taxable  property  of  the  county,  which  must  produce  at  least  $8.00 
for  each  child  between  four  and  twenty,  and  which  at  present  comprises 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


105 


something  over  one-fourth  of  the  total  school  fund.  Each  school  district 
receives  from  the  county  school  fund  directly:  (a)  a  lump  sum  of 
$100.00;  (b)  $5.00  for  each  teacher  employed,  and  (c)  a  proportionate 
share  of  the  remainder  on  a  basis  of  the  number  of  children  between 
four  and  twenty  living  within  the  district. 

3.  District  School  Fund.  This  fund  is  raised  from  a  tax  levied 
annually  in  the  school  district  by  the  authority  of  a  majority  of  the 
resident  taxpayers.  It  amounts,  on  the  average,  to  about  two-thirds  of 
the  entire  school  fund.  If  the  aggregate  maximum  amount  from  these 
several  funds  do  not  in  any  district  equal  $300.00,  the  deficiency  is 
apportioned  from  the  county  school  fund. 

How  does  the  present  system  of  taxation  and  apportionment  result 
in  actual  practice?  This  is  readily  shown  by  making  a  comparison  of 
the  apportionments  received  by  a  number  of  typical  districts.  Table  10 
exhibits  the  1914-15  distribution  of  the  school  funds  in  seven  Lane 
County  districts — one  first-class  district,  two  second-class  districts,  and 
four  third-class  districts : 

TABLE    10.      APPORTIONMENT   OF   SCHOOL   FUNDS   IN   SEVEN   TYPICAL 
LANE  COUNTY  SCHOOL  DISTRICTS,    1914-1915 


District  Number 

Lump 
Sum 

Per 
Teacher 

County 
Fund 

State 
Fund 

From 
County 

Local 
District 

Total 

District  No.        4.... 
District  No.      19  

$100.00 
100.00 

$425.00 
100.00 

$20,894 
4,131 

$   6,185 
1,223 

$  

$64,737 
9,379 

$92,341 
14,933 

District  No.      45  

100.00 

100.00 

4,500 

1,332 

7,421 

13,453 

District  No.   131  

100.00 

5.00 

175 

52 

18 

350 

District  No.   157  

100.00 

5.00 

100 

30 

75 

330 

District  No.   161  
District  No.   168  

100.00 

100.00 

I 

5.00 
5.00 

56 
69 

17 
20 

88 
101 

51 
25 

317 
320 

This  table  shows  the  presence  of  striking  differences  in  the  amounts 
available  for  school  purposes  in  the  several  districts  concerned,  the 
ultimate  significance  of  which  may  be  realized  more  clearly  by  reference 
to  Table  11: 

TABLE    11.      SCHOOL   EXPENDITURES   IN    TYPICAL    LANE    COUNTY   DIS- 
TRICTS,  1914-1915.     THE  MAXIMUM  POSSIBLE,  AND  REQUIRED 
MINIMUM  AMOUNTS  FOR  TEACHERS'  SALARIES,  AND 
THE  MAXIMUM  POSSIBLE  PER  PUPIL  FOR 
OTHER  EXPENSES  ARE  INDICATED 


1 

(1) 

District  Number 

(2) 

School 
Census 

(3) 

No.   of 
Teachers 

(4) 

Available 
Per 
Teacher 

(9) 
Legal 
Minimum 
Per  Teacher 

(6) 
Maximum 
for  Other 
Expenses 
Per  Child 

District  No. 
District  No. 
District  No. 
District  No. 
District  No. 
District  No. 
District  No. 

4.... 
19  i 
45  | 
131  
157  ! 
161  
168  ! 

3,343 
661 
720 
28 
16 
9 
11 

85 
20 
20 
1 
1 
1 
1 

$1,086.00" 
747.00 
673.00 
350.00 
330.00 
317.00 
320.00 

$276.04 
236.05 
256.36 
282.20 
206.75 
226.10 
259.25 

$20.30 
15.45 
11.42 
2.42 
7.08 
10.10 
6.29 

106         RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 

Column  (4)  of  Table  11  shows  the  total  amount  of  money  available  for 
teachers  according*  to  the  number  now  employed  in  each  district.  Eighty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  amount  received  from  the  county  school  fund  and 
the  irreducible  school  fund  must  be  applied  on  teachers'  salaries.  This 
minimum  amount  is  indicated  for  each  school  in  column  (5).  The  total 
possible  amount  which  may  be  devoted  to  each  pupil  for  other  expenses 
than  teachers,  such  as  fuel,  chalk,  blackboards,  erasers,  stoves,  or 
other  apparatus  necessary  for  the  use  of  schools,  for  repairs  or  furnsh- 
ing  school  houses,  cannot  exceed  for  each  school  the  amount  shown  in 
column  (6). 

It  is  evident  that  the  more  populous  school  districts  have  much 
greater  amount  to  devote  to  teachers'  salaries.  The  legal  minimum  sum 
to  be  devoted  to  teachers'  salaries  does  not  vary  significantly  among 
the  different  types  of  districts,  but  in  practice  the  large  districts  more 
than  double  the  minimum  requirement,  while  the  smaller  districts  are 
unable  to  go  much  beyond  the  minimum  requirement.  It  is  also  evident 
that  the  smaller  districts  do  not  have  equal  funds  for  expenditures  per 
individual  pupil,  and  that  they  cannot  take  the  advantage  of  combination 
that  is  possible  in  large  schools. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  less  populous  districts  make  up  their 
small  county  and  State  apportionment  by  increasing  their  local  district 
tax.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  tendency  is  in  the  other  direction,  many 
of  the  smaller  districts  making  no  local  levy  whatever.  Moreover,  the 
greatest  inequality  exists  in  the  amounts  of  the  special  levies  in  various 
districts.  In  1914-15,  the  district  levy  ranged  everywhere  from  zero 
up  to  sixteen  mills.  Thirty-one  districts  made  no  special  levy  whatever, 
being  sufficiently  satisfied  with  the  State  and  county  allotments.  Fifty- 
seven  districts  made  a  levy  of  two  mills  or  less,  while  seventeen  districts 
made  levies  of  over  eight  mills. 

These  illustrations,  which  are  typical  of  many  others,  show  clearly 
that  two  very  important  economic  principles  are  not  being  carried  out 
in  Lane  County.  In  the  first  place,  every  child  in  the  county  is  not 
enjoying  even  approximately  equal  educational  advantages.  In  the 
second  place,  the  burden  of  taxation  for  school  purposes  is  not  distributed 
on  a  basis  of  equality. 

Finally,  let  us  ask,  "What  is  the  solution  of  the  present  difficulty?" 
Basing  our  answer  upon  the  experience  of  other  states,  two  distinct 
changes  may  be  safely  recommended : 

(1)  An   increase   in  the  amount   of  funds   derived   from   the   State 
and  county,  and  a  decrease  in  the  amount  derived  from  individual  school 
districts, 

(2)  An  apportionment  of  State  and  county  school  funds  on  a  basis 
to  help  needy  districts  and  to  stimulate  inactive  districts. 

Oregon  is  one  of  the  very  few  states  in  the  Union  which  do  not  aid 
local  public  schools  by  means  of  a  general  State  school  tax.  This  throws 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


107 


a  heavy  burden  upon  the  local  counties  and  districts.  Table  12  shows 
how  unfavorably  Oregon  compares  with  her  neighboring  states  in  this 
respect : 

TABLE  12.     PERCENTAGE  OF  SCHOOL  FUNDS  RAISED  FROM  DIFFERENT 
SOURCES    (REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION,    1914) 


State 
Levies 
Per  Cent 

County  and  Permanent 
District       Funds,  Etc. 
Per  Cent        Per  Cent 

Other 
Sources 
Per  Cent 

Montana   

33 

52                      10 

5 

California     

26 

70                        2 

2 

Utah 

24 

62 

14 

\Vashington 

17 

74                          7 

2 

Idaho     
Oregon     

77                       11 
88                        6 

12 
6 

Oregon  cannot  hope  to  equalize  the  burdens  of  local  school  support 
until  the  State  gives  greater  aid  to  its  individual  school  districts. 
Unfortunately  the  present  tendency  is  not  in  this  direction.  Reference 
to  Table  13  will  show  that  whereas  in  1873  the  State  was  giving  through 
the  irreducible  school  fund  18  per  cent  of  the  total  school  fund,  and 
the  district  38  per  cent,  the  burden  has  been  gradually  shifted  until  in 
1913  the  State  irreducible  school  fund  afforded  but  7  per  cent  of  the 
total,  while  the  individual  school  district,  on  the  average,  was  giving 
65  per  cent  of  the  total.  This  is  not  in  line  with  progressive  educational 
tendency  elsewhere,  and  it  is  eminently  necessary  that  the  weight  of 
the  burden  be  shifted  in  the  opposite  direction. 

TABLE  13.   PERCENTAGE  OF  SCHOOL  FUND  FURNISHED  BY  STATE 

IRREDUCIBLE  SCHOOL  FUND,  COUNTY  SCHOOL  FUND, 

AND  DISTRICT  SCHOOL  FUND 


Date                                  Amount 

State 
Per  Cent 

County 
Per  Cent 

District 
Per  Cent 

1873    .                                              .     $       184,010.00 

18 

44 

38 

1883                                                              538  798  00 

14 

49 

37 

1893         .                                                    1,449  615  00 

15 

49 

36 

1903     1...                                             3,157,926.00 

14 

49 

37 

1913                                                              8  512  177  00 

28 

65 

How  to  apportion  the  school  funds,  once  raised,  under  a  system  that 
will  help  needy  districts  and  at  the  same  time  stimulate  local  effort  is 
another  problem.  The  present  system  which  first  apportions  $100.00 
alike  to  each  school  district  and  $5.00  for  every  teacher  who  has  attended 
an  institute,  and  the  remainder  on  the  basis  of  the  school  census  is 
weak  in  several  vital  points.  (1)  It  does  not  tend  to  equalize  the 
burdens  of  taxation.  (2)  It  does  not  encourage  regular  attendance  at 
school;  it  offers  no  incentive  for  local  effort,  and  pays  just  as  much 
for  a  poor  school  as  for  a  good  one.  (3)  It  pays  for  all  persons  in 
the  district  between  the  ages  of  four  and  twenty,  whether  they  are 
school  children  or  not.  The  method  employed  by  the  State  in  distributing 
the  irreducible  school  fund  is  even  poorer,  for  it  is  based  upon  the 
school  census  only. 


108         RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY 


The  system  now  used  in  Lane  County  must  be  modified  to  approximate 
that  in  other  progressive  states.  In  Pennsylvania  the  funds  are 
apportioned  on  a  basis  of  one-third  according  to  the  number  of  teachers, 
one-third  according  to  the  number  of  school  children  in  the  local  district, 
and  one-third  according  to  the  local  property  valuation.  Nebraska  gives 
one-fourth,  in  a  lump  to  each  school  district,  and  three-fourths  on  the 
basis  of  the  school  census,  while  California  gives  $550.00  on  the  basis 
of  teachers  employed,  and  the  remainder  on  a  basis  of  average  attendance. 

The  following  plan  of  apportionment  is  proposed  as  a  solution  for 
the  present  problem  in  Lane  County: 

(1)  45  per  cent  according  to  the  number  of  full-time  teachers. 

(2)  45  per  cent  according  to  the  aggregate  daily  attendance. 

(3)  10   per   cent  according  to   the   needs  and  efforts  of   individual 
schools. 

Part  (3)  of  the  school  fund  should  be  under  definite  control  of  the 
State  and  county  educational  authorities,  and  should  be  used  to  adjust 
the  more  striking  inequalities  which  may  remain  after  each  district  has 
met  its  just  share  of  the  burden  of  school  taxation. 

Let  the  State  contribute  its  just  share  to  the  support  of  local  educa- 
tion, adopt  the  foregoing  plan  of  apportionment,  delegate  the  control 
of  rural  education  to  the  educational  authorities  of  a  properly  centralized 
county  school  system,  and  the  problem  of  rural  education  in  Lane  County 
will  be  solved.  Nor  is  this  an  idle  fancy — it  has  been  done  in  part  or 
in  whole  elsewhere,  and  in  equal  measure  as  Lane  County  approaches 
the  standard  set,  in  equal  degree  will  all  her  schools  reach  the  present 
standard  of  her  many  good  ones,  and  all  of  her  children  enjoy  the 
educational  privileges  of  her  more  favored  ones. 

CHAPTER    9— FINAL    RECOMMENDATIONS 

Careful  reading  of  the  foregoing  pages  will  disclose  the  fact  that 
there  are  many  phases  of  education  and  numerous  individual  schools 
in  Lane  County  which  receive  commendation  and  which  are  worthy  of 
imitation  elsewhere.  Judging  from  the  standards  which  have  been  set 
elsewhere,  rural  education  may  be  said  to  be  above  the  average.  But 
average  rural  education  in  the  United  States  is  far  from  satisfactory. 
Most  certainly  it  will  not  answer  in  Lane  County  where  the  promotion 
of  rural  life  and  efficiency  is  of  first  importance  to  the  ultimate  welfare 
of  the  entire  population.  Little  space  has  been  given  to  pointing  out 
local  defects  which  may  be  remedied  over  night  for  the  trouble  is 
deep-seated,  and  one  which  demands  rigorous  treatment,  no  less  than 
the  complete  reorganization  of  county  educational  administration. 

It  will  take  time  to  attain  the  ideals  here  set  forth,  but  because  the 
journey  may  prove  long  is  no  reason  for  delaying  the  start.  If  rural 
education  in  Lane  County  is  to  meet  the  needs  of  country  life  in  an 
adequate  manner,  definite  progress  should  be  made  at  an  early  date 
towards  the  following  changes : 


RURAL  SURVEY  OF  LANE  COUNTY         109 

1.  Development  of  consolidated  grade  schools  and  union  high  schools 
at   points   which,   geographically   and   economically,   are   "natural"   com- 
munity centers. 

2.  Adoption  of  the  county  unit  system  in  place  of  the  present  one- 
sided system  of  county  educational  administration. 

3.  Extension  of  the  present  rural  supervisory  system. 

4.  Equalization  of  the  burdens  of  taxation  for  school  purposes  by 
increasing  the  proportional  amounts  borne  by  the  State  and  county,  and 
lowering  the  proportional  amount  borne  by  local  school  districts. 

5.  Distribution  of  authority  among  State,  county  and  district  school 
officials  in  such  a  manner  as  (1)  to  adjust  the  course  of  study  to  local 
needs,    (2)    to   stimulate  local  school  support,  and    (3)    to  insure  equal 
educational  opportunities  in  all  parts  of  the  county. 


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